The Ministry of Science and Technology yesterday said it is to invest NT$4 billion (US$132.1 million) over the next four years to cultivate a talent pool for the development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
Lu Liang-hung (呂良鴻), director of the National Applied Research Laboratory’s National Chip Implementation Center, said that under the plan, NT$1 billion would be invested annually over four years, starting next year.
The talent development program is to train about 2,000 AI experts each year to work in the private sector and enhance the nation’s future in the industry, Lu said.
AI has been applied to a wide range of industries, including self-driving cars, and voice and face recognition software, and is an irreversible trend in industrial development worldwide, Lu said.
“We are well aware that without experts, it will be difficult for the AI industry to grow in Taiwan,” Lu said. “AI development is viewed as the future of local industry and the talent development program is expected to help it upgrade.”
Lu said that Taiwan cannot afford to lag behind other nations in AI, because it will then have to play catch-up in talent training.
The center is also to assist in the development of AI equipment and technology, Lu said.
Meanwhile, Science and Technology Minister Chen Liang-gee (陳良基) yesterday signed a letter of intent to cooperate in AI development with Aart de Geus, chairman of the US-based electronic design automation solution developer Synopsys Inc.
Under the agreement, Synopsys is to invest US$5 million to help Taiwan develop AI technology, an investment that is to include the donation of an AI chip certification platform for local research personnel, including students, that is expected to boost the pace of innovation.
The center has worked with Synopsys for years and the latest agreement is to promote even closer ties between the two, the ministry said.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained