Germany must commit billions of euros to back a planned strategy to develop artificial intelligence (AI) or risk falling further behind the US and China, a senior government lawmaker said on Friday.
The warning by Social Democratic Party (SDP) General Secretary Lars Klingbeil came less than two weeks before German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s squabbling coalition is due to sign off on the blueprint.
An initial draft released earlier this year fell short of expectations, Klingbeil wrote in a commentary for the Tagesspiegel newspaper.
“We really need a breakout. We have to stop taking it easy,” he wrote.
Policymakers in Europe’s largest economy have been late to realize that its industrial export model is vulnerable at a time of rapid digitalization and growing trade frictions.
Automakers, such as Volkswagen AG or Daimler AG, are vulnerable to competition from asset-light companies, such as ride-hailing platform Uber Technologies Inc, that use artificial intelligence — essentially computers that can be trained to solve problems — to crunch data and run digital services.
Germany, handicapped by an outdated research infrastructure and restrictive data protection laws, has yet to produce a world-beating start-up that pioneers the use of AI, although 100 companies have formed a lobby group to contribute to the policy process.
Klingbeil, whose party is Merkel’s junior partner in government, faulted Germany for taking its eye off the ball and getting caught up in the “hysteria” around a three-year-old immigration crisis while other countries were investing in AI research.
“We need a concrete investment strategy for AI that is backed by a sum in the billions,” he wrote in the article published yesterday.
Researchers at CB Insights estimate that global investments in AI start-ups tripled last year to US$7.3 billion.
US PROBE: The Information reported that the US Department of Commerce is investigating whether the firm made advanced chips for China’s Huawei Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract maker of advanced chips, yesterday said it is a law-abiding company, and is committed to complying with all applicable laws and regulations including export controls. The Hsinchu-based chip giant issued the statement after US news Web site The Information ran a story saying that the US Department of Commerce has launched a probe into TSMC over whether it breached export rules by making smartphone or artificial intelligence (AI) chips for China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為). “We maintain a robust and comprehensive export system for monitoring and ensuring compliance,” the statement said. “If we
DEMAND FOR AI CHIPS: Net income in the third quarter surged 31.2% quarter-on-quarter to NT$325.26 billion, the strongest quarterly return in the company’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday raised its revenue forecast to annual growth of 30 percent this year, thanks to strong and sustainable demand for artificial intelligence (AI) processors for servers. It was the second upward adjustment from 25 percent year-on-year growth estimated three months ago, despite recent concerns about whether the AI boom could be another technology bubble. “The demand is real. It’s real. And I believe it is just the beginning of this demand. Alright, so one of my key customers said the demand right now is ‘insane,’” TSMC chairman and chief executive C.C.
Starbucks Corp might have the more recognizable name, but 7-Eleven’s City Cafe remains the king of Taiwan’s fresh coffee market, helped by the convenience store chain’s extensive market presence and product diversification. President Chain Store Corp (PCSC, 統一超商), which runs both the 7-Eleven and Starbucks store chains in Taiwan, established the City Cafe brand in 2004. The brand took off when actress Gwei Lun-mei (桂綸鎂) became its spokesperson in 2007. City Cafe’s sales exceeded NT$10 billion (US$311.69 million) for the first time in 2015, surpassing the revenue of Starbucks Taiwan, and rose to more than NT$17 billion last year, exceeding the NT$14.98
COUNTRY-BASED: Setting ceilings on sales of the technology would tighten limits that originally targeted China’s ambitions in artificial intelligence amid security risks US officials have discussed capping sales of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chips from Nvidia Corp and other American companies on a country-specific basis, people familiar with the matter said, a move that would limit some nations’ AI capabilities. The new approach would set a ceiling on export licenses for some countries in the interest of national security, according to the people, who described the private discussions on condition of anonymity. Officials in the administration of US President Joe Biden focused on Persian Gulf countries that have a growing appetite for AI data centers and the deep pockets to fund them, the people