Alphabet Inc’s Google yesterday announced a large investment in Taiwan’s artificial intelligence (AI) development, saying it would hire at least 300 AI engineers, cultivate 5,000 talents and train more than 50,000 digital marketing personnel this year.
The company’s AI investment in Taiwan is by far the largest from an international tech company, following Microsoft Corp’s launch of an AI research and development (R&D) center and Amazon Web Services’ joint innovative center at the beginning of this year.
“Taiwan is already Google’s largest R&D center in Asia and it has strong software, hardware and cloud-computing teams — the core elements to develop AI technology. We expect Taiwan to become Google’s global strategic center for AI in the long term,” Google Taiwan managing director Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰) told a media conference in Taipei.
Photo: CNA
The 300 new vacancies range from positions in software, hardware, cloud-computing and data center engineers to administration management, Chien said.
Google is to carry out the phase-four expansion plan at its data center in Changhua County later this year, he added.
“It is by far Google’s largest recruitment drive in Taiwan,” Chien said.
“The recruitment and the expanded data center represent Google’s commitment to investment in Taiwan in the long term and our plan to commence many AI projects here,” he added.
Google’s initiative, dubbed “Intelligent Taiwan,” includes holding AI innovation boot camps in collaboration with National Taiwan University, National Tsing Hua University, National Chiao Tung University and National Cheng Kung University.
Students recommended by these universities are to join a five-day event this summer with the opportunity to have face-to-face discussions with Google’s global AI professionals, Chien said, adding that the boot camps are important, as Taiwanese students have developed a foundation in advanced technologies, but lack the opportunity to interact with global professionals.
Google said it would convene boot camps to share the company’s Machine Learning Crash Course with college professors, high-school teachers and seed instructors at the Institute for Information Industry in a bid to help Taiwan accelerate the popularization of AI education.
Google said it has also translated its free online digital marketing course into Chinese for small and medium-sized enterprises, jobseekers and students, and is to launch an offline one-year course on digital marketing in Taichung and Tainan this year.
Conflict with Taiwan could leave China with “massive economic disruption, catastrophic military losses, significant social unrest, and devastating sanctions,” a US think tank said in a report released on Monday. The German Marshall Fund released a report titled If China Attacks Taiwan: The Consequences for China of “Minor Conflict” and “Major War” Scenarios. The report details the “massive” economic, military, social and international costs to China in the event of a minor conflict or major war with Taiwan, estimating that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could sustain losses of more than half of its active-duty ground forces, including 100,000 troops. Understanding Chinese
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said it is closely monitoring developments in Venezuela, and would continue to cooperate with democratic allies and work together for regional and global security, stability, and prosperity. The remarks came after the US on Saturday launched a series of airstrikes in Venezuela and kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who was later flown to New York along with his wife. The pair face US charges related to drug trafficking and alleged cooperation with gangs designated as terrorist organizations. Maduro has denied the allegations. The ministry said that it is closely monitoring the political and economic situation
‘SLICING METHOD’: In the event of a blockade, the China Coast Guard would intercept Taiwanese ships while its navy would seek to deter foreign intervention China’s military drills around Taiwan this week signaled potential strategies to cut the nation off from energy supplies and foreign military assistance, a US think tank report said. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted what it called “Justice Mission 2025” exercises from Monday to Tuesday in five maritime zones and airspace around Taiwan, calling them a warning to “Taiwanese independence” forces. In a report released on Wednesday, the Institute for the Study of War said the exercises effectively simulated blocking shipping routes to major port cities, including Kaohsiung, Keelung and Hualien. Taiwan would be highly vulnerable under such a blockade, because it
UNRELENTING: China attempted cyberattacks on Taiwan’s critical infrastructure 2.63 million times per day last year, up from 1.23 million in 2023, the NSB said China’s cyberarmy has long engaged in cyberattacks against Taiwan’s critical infrastructure, employing diverse and evolving tactics, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday, adding that cyberattacks on critical energy infrastructure last year increased 10-fold compared with the previous year. The NSB yesterday released a report titled Analysis on China’s Cyber Threats to Taiwan’s Critical Infrastructure in 2025, outlining the number of cyberattacks, major tactics and hacker groups. Taiwan’s national intelligence community identified a large number of cybersecurity incidents last year, the bureau said in a statement. China’s cyberarmy last year launched an average of 2.63 million intrusion attempts per day targeting Taiwan’s critical
RSS