Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) has applied to set up a research and development (R&D) center in Taiwan as part of the government’s “A+ Industrial Innovative R&D Program,” the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
The ministry did not disclose the investment amount or what the plan is.
The program covers three major fields — artificial intelligence (AI), new generation semiconductors, including high-power and high-frequency integrated circuits (ICs), and new 5G network structures.
Photo: Dado Ruvic, Reuters
It aims to encourage local and foreign technology firms to invest in Taiwan and for the nation to become a global R&D hub, the Executive Yuan said.
A qualified applicant would receive a subsidy worth up to 50 percent of its investment.
AMD is planning to invest about NT$5 billion (US$155 million) and the ministry has given the company conditions that must be met to receive the subsidy, local media reported, citing an unnamed government source.
AMD was to work with Taiwanese IC designers to develop the domestic IC industry, the source said, adding that the servers which use its AI chips would also be produced in Taiwan.
The ministry also required AMD to recruit enough foreign talent to account for at least 20 percent of its R&D workforce in Taiwan, so that the tech giant would not have to compete with Taiwanese firms for local talent, the source said.
The source said that the ministry wanted AMD to work with Taiwanese universities to help cultivate talent.
AMD has responded positively to the ministry’s conditions, the source added.
AMD CEO Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) is scheduled to attend the Computex Taipei trade show early next month and is expected to discuss R&D plans with the administration of President William Lai (賴清德), who was sworn yesterday, local media reports said.
The ministry has approved several investment applications filed by several tech heavyweights wanting to invest in Taiwan under the program.
Investors include Netherlands-based semiconductor equipment supplier ASML Holding NV, US wafer fabrication equipment supplier Lam Research Corp and US semiconductor equipment supplier Applied Materials Inc.
In 2021, US chip giant Nvidia Corp secured approval for its investment plan under the “Supreme A+ Program.”
The AI innovation and R&D center program, which began in 2020, aims to attract innovators to invest in state-of-the-art technologies relating to semiconductors, communications and AI in Taiwan.
Nvidia’s investment plan aimed to set up an AI R&D center through a NT$24.3 billion investment, with the ministry providing a subsidy worth NT$6.7 billion. The company is to cooperate with enterprises and universities through its investments.
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