Google Inc yesterday unveiled a Chinese-language version of its new service YouTube EDU, which allows Internet users to access videotaped courses from three local universities.
The search giant said National Taiwan University, National Tsing Hua University and National Chiao Tung University had uploaded more than 140 video courses about math, literature and science to the YouTube EDU Web site since the beginning of the year.
“The courses allow Internet users to learn not only academic knowledge, but also cultural aspects. They also provide great opportunities for foreign students to learn Taiwanese culture,” Angela Lin (林永函), manager of YouTube’s strategic partnerships division, said at a press conference.
Photo: Chen Ping-hung, Taipei Times
YouTube EDU is an open platform where users from around the world can access courses offered by 400 primary and secondary schools, as well as universities in countries including the US, South Korea, Japan, India, Malaysia and Hong Kong, Lin said.
Established in 2009, YouTube EDU has since seen its number of channels grow three fold to more than 1,000, Lin said, saying that as of last year, about 850,000 video courses were available online for users.
“YouTube EDU is a global classroom that provides localized educational resources to everyone with Internet access,” Lin said.
“In today’s world, video is an incredibly engaging way to teach students and to engage students ... This is really a new age in terms of technology enabling us to learn and to educate each other. We are entering a new age,” she added.
Google Taiwan said it was seeking to collaborate with more educational institutions in Taiwan this year to increase the size of its YouTube EDU services and further diversify content.
The company also intends to invite more academic institutions in Chinese and Arabic-speaking countries to upload their courses to YouTube EDU to meet the rising demand for online education courses, Lin said.
WEAKER ACTIVITY: The sharpest deterioration was seen in the electronics and optical components sector, with the production index falling 13.2 points to 44.5 Taiwan’s manufacturing sector last month contracted for a second consecutive month, with the purchasing managers’ index (PMI) slipping to 48, reflecting ongoing caution over trade uncertainties, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The decline reflects growing caution among companies amid uncertainty surrounding US tariffs, semiconductor duties and automotive import levies, and it is also likely linked to fading front-loading activity, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said. “Some clients have started shifting orders to Southeast Asian countries where tariff regimes are already clear,” Lien told a news conference. Firms across the supply chain are also lowering stock levels to mitigate
IN THE AIR: While most companies said they were committed to North American operations, some added that production and costs would depend on the outcome of a US trade probe Leading local contract electronics makers Wistron Corp (緯創), Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), Inventec Corp (英業達) and Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶) are to maintain their North American expansion plans, despite Washington’s 20 percent tariff on Taiwanese goods. Wistron said it has long maintained a presence in the US, while distributing production across Taiwan, North America, Southeast Asia and Europe. The company is in talks with customers to align capacity with their site preferences, a company official told the Taipei Times by telephone on Friday. The company is still in talks with clients over who would bear the tariff costs, with the outcome pending further
Six Taiwanese companies, including contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), made the 2025 Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s largest firms by revenue. In a report published by New York-based Fortune magazine on Tuesday, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), ranked highest among Taiwanese firms, placing 28th with revenue of US$213.69 billion. Up 60 spots from last year, TSMC rose to No. 126 with US$90.16 billion in revenue, followed by Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) at 348th, Pegatron Corp (和碩) at 461st, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) at 494th and Wistron Corp (緯創) at
NEGOTIATIONS: Semiconductors play an outsized role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development and are a major driver of the Taiwan-US trade imbalance With US President Donald Trump threatening to impose tariffs on semiconductors, Taiwan is expected to face a significant challenge, as information and communications technology (ICT) products account for more than 70 percent of its exports to the US, Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said on Friday. Compared with other countries, semiconductors play a disproportionately large role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development, Lien said. As the sixth-largest contributor to the US trade deficit, Taiwan recorded a US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US last year — up from US$47.8 billion in 2023 — driven by strong
RSS