The Ministry of Science and Technology yesterday announced that it is to establish a robot production base in a bid to upgrade Taiwan’s manufacturing sector.
Minister of Science and Technology Chen Liang-gee (陳良基) said at a news conference that the ministry is seeking a budget of NT$2 billion (US$66.5 million) over the next four years for the establishment of the robot development facility, which is to be called “The Maker Space.”
The government is planning to spend NT$882.49 billion over the next eight years to fund infrastructure work in Taiwan to create 40,000 to 50,000 new jobs.
Chen said the Cabinet is likely to allocate NT$2 billion from the budget of the Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program for robot production.
The government’s infrastructure plan is still contingent on approval from the Legislative Yuan, with fierce opposition to it among some lawmakers creating uncertainty.
Taiwan is very competitive in the global hardware and software industries, Chen said, so the nation would use this strength for robot production, which is expected to integrate local industrial resources and pave the way for economic growth.
Citing a ministry plan, Chen said that most of the N$2 billion budget would be invested in the Central Taiwan Science Park (中部科學園區) and the Southern Taiwan Science Park (南部科學園區), which house high-end technology developers in the semiconductor and machinery sectors.
Through the two science parks, the robot production base is to provide services to and share know-how with industrial associations and academia, while helping create 50 innovative companies in Taiwan that could roll out critical components for industrial use, Chen said.
Central Taiwan Science Park Administration section chief Huang Yi-mei (黃懿美) said the science park specializes in machinery production and would offer a good environment for developing robots.
The Central Taiwan Science Park accounts for 60 percent of the country’s machinery production, Huang said.
Southern Taiwan Science Park Administration director-general Lin Wei-cheng (林威呈) said the science park would hold robot competitions and forums to foster an environment suitable for development.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last