The government yesterday announced a collaboration with Nvidia Corp to accelerate the development of artificial intelligence (AI) and deep-learning technologies over the next decade.
Forging ties with global leaders, such as Nvidia, is essential in securing Taiwan’s place in the AI industry and its supply chain, Minister of Science and Technology Chen Liang-gee (陳良基) said.
Chen said Nvidia’s invention of the graphics processing unit (GPU) in 1999 has led to immense leaps in computing power demanded by AI applications.
Nvidia and government agencies are to jointly build the nation’s supercomputing infrastructure with the company’s HGX-2, which fuses AI and high-performance computing in a single platform.
Nvidia would also expand its computer science and deep-learning research institutes to train Taiwanese developers on the latest AI capabilities.
In addition, the company and government agencies would work together to help local AI start-ups through the Nvidia Inception accelerator program.
Nvidia said that it is seeking joint investment opportunities for key vertical markets in Taiwan, such as manufacturing, healthcare, safe cities and transportation.
In related news, Nvidia chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) unveiled a new platform to power the next generation of AI-enhanced robotics and autonomous machines.
Dubbed the Nvidia Isaac, the platform consists of the Jetson Xavier chip, which packs the computing power of a US$10,000 workstation into an energy-efficient and palm-sized unit.
The chip would serve as the “brain” of autonomous machines, and enable algorithms to be processed concurrently and in real time. It has a price tag of US$1,299 is to be available for early access in August.
The platform also has a collection of development tools, a library of robotics algorithm software and a simulation environment for developers to conduct tests and train autonomous machines using the Jetson Xavier.
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ENERGY IMPACT: The electricity rate hike is expected to add about NT$4 billion to TSMC’s electricity bill a year and cut its annual earnings per share by about NT$0.154 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has left its long-term gross margin target unchanged despite the government deciding on Friday to raise electricity rates. One of the heaviest power consuming manufacturers in Taiwan, TSMC said it always respects the government’s energy policy and would continue to operate its fabs by making efforts in energy conservation. The chipmaker said it has left a long-term goal of more than 53 percent in gross margin unchanged. The Ministry of Economic Affairs concluded a power rate evaluation meeting on Friday, announcing electricity tariffs would go up by 11 percent on average to about NT$3.4518 per kilowatt-hour (kWh)