Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday announced that it might spend NT$10 billion (US$342 million) over the next five years on artificial intelligence (AI) talent cultivation and technology development in Taiwan, in a bid to localize the development of AI applications in its industrial Internet-focused operations.
“[NT]$10 billion is the minimum investment in Taiwan. I am willing to spend US$10 billion here if it is what it takes to grow more AI applications in ‘smart’ manufacturing locally,” company chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) told a news conference at the company’s headquarters in New Taipei City’s Tucheng District (土城).
Hundreds of the company’s employees also attended the announcement.
Photo: Chen Jou-chen, Taipei Times
Gou said Hon Hai would financially support its employees to go abroad and pursue advanced studies in the field of AI.
“Take your family to MIT [the Massachusetts Institute of Technology] or the University of Tokyo. We will fully support your expenses,” he said.
Hon Hai is to open its manufacturing bases around the world to Taiwanese academics, start-ups and individuals to experiment with their AI applications and jointly explore the possibility of AI uses in the industrial Internet era, Gou said.
“I am calling on talent in Taiwan: Hon Hai can be a place where you can develop AI technologies,” Gou said.
Company executive vice president Lu Fang-ming (呂芳銘) said Hon Hai has been collecting a wide range of data from its manufacturing bases around the world for more than five years, which includes data on product design, supply chains, production and logistics.
The company has used the critical data and cloud-computing infrastructure, as well as developed AI solutions, to increase its production efficiency, with five plants that run around the clock without lights launched in China last year, Lu said.
Hon Hai plans to recruit at least 100 AI talents in Taiwan in the first phase of its project to push efforts in industrial Internet-driven technologies, Lu said.
The company is to set up industrial Internet-focused AI labs in Taipei and Kaohsiung, and then expand to Shenzhen, Shanghai, Nanjing and Beijing in China, he said.
The company also plans to establish AI labs in Japan and the US, he added.
The company has more than 10 high-performance computing (HPC) facilities in several cities worldwide, including Kaohsiung, Tokyo, Osaka, Japan, and Prague, as well as Wisconsin and San Diego in the US, Gou said.
The firm’s global HPC network is to be a key platform to connect and share industrial data and AI solutions, which the company would open to small and medium-sized enterprises, Gou said.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
RSS