Computing power, which relies on a sufficient electricity supply, is crucial when assessing a nation’s strength, Pegatron Corp (和碩) chairman Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢) said at an artificial intelligence (AI) forum in Taipei on Tuesday.
On the sidelines of the forum discussing how Taiwan can boost its information and communications technology industry in the AI era, Tung said that computing power defines how developed a country is.
However, using AI and manufacturing AI chips requires electricity, he said, adding that the stability, quality and cost of the power supply could affect the development of a country’s economy.
Photo: Fang Wei-chieh, Taipei Times
At the forum, Tung again raised the issue of energy, saying that every country has a unique industrial structure, “and among the advanced countries, [few] have about the same or higher electricity consumption per capita than Taiwan, with the United States being one” of them.
“The per capita power consumption in Japan and European countries such as Germany, which rely more on the service sector, is about half of Taiwan’s,” he said.
The nation consumed 276.52 terawatt-hours of power last year, Energy Administration data showed.
That was about 11,807 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per capita, given a population of 23.42 million.
In 2022, the US consumed 12,702kWh per capita, while Japan logged 7,799kWh and Germany 6,984kWh, German online data platform Statista showed.
The main reason for Taiwan’s high power consumption is the industrial sector, which in 2022, “accounted for about 56 percent of Taiwan’s consumption,” Tung said.
Residential consumption that year was only about 18 percent, he added.
The levels were about the same last year, with the industrial sector accounting for 55.3 percent, residential 18.6 percent and the service sector 17.5 percent, Energy Administration data showed.
“If the annual power consumption increased 2 to 2.5 percent, in three or four years it would be about 300 terawatt-hours. If there is a NT$1 [US$0.03] difference in the cost of generating 1kWh, the total difference would be NT$300 billion,” Tung said.
“NT$300 billion could be invested in many areas, including research, education and healthcare,” he added.
He did not elaborate on what could cause the cost to rise in power generation, but he was likely referring to the increasing cost associated with stopping the use of nuclear power.
Tung has repeatedly voiced his support for nuclear power.
Earlier this month, he said that Taiwan’s nuclear plants have been working well for four decades and have lowered the cost of generating power.
He also said that it would be a pity for a well-functioning facility that would cost hundreds of billions of New Taiwan dollars to build today to stop operating.
The two reactors at Taiwan’s only operating nuclear plant — Pingtung County’s Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant — are scheduled to stop operating later this month and in May next year after 40 years in service.
Tung’s outspokenness about his support for nuclear power has stirred a lot of debate because he has recently been appointed by President William Lai (賴清德) of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) as deputy convener of a newly established National Climate Change Strategy Committee.
The DPP has a long-standing “nuclear-free homeland” stance on energy.
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