Microsoft Corp is focusing on Taiwanese specializing in artificial intelligence (AI) during its current recruitment season, a Microsoft Taiwan official said on Wednesday.
Michael Chang (張仁烔), chief executive of the new Microsoft AI research and development center in Taiwan, said the company wants to recruit Taiwanese students because of the hard and soft skills that they possess.
“Not only are some Taiwanese skilled at data analysis and coding, but they are also insightful, creative and good team players,” Chang said.
The talent pool is actually one of the main reasons that Microsoft decided to base its AI research and development center in Taiwan, he said.
Microsoft Taiwan president Ken Sun (孫基康) told a news conference on Jan. 10 that the company planned to have a 100-person research team at the center within two years and double that number within five years, with a key focus on Chinese-language input for SwiftKey, user-intent technology and AI forward integration applications.
There are 30 openings at the center this year, and in an effort to encourage more women to work in science, priority would be given to female applicants for interview, the company said.
In a study conducted in partnership with International Data Corp (IDC) and released last month, Microsoft said that about half of Taiwan’s GDP would be derived from digital technologies, including mobile apps, cloud computing, the Internet of Things and AI applications by 2021, up from 6 percent today.
Digital technologies are also expected to raise the nation’s annual economic growth rate by 0.5 percent by 2021, while some 79 percent of existing jobs are expected to be transformed in the next three years, the study found.
Additional reporting by Ted Chen
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