The National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) yesterday said it would lead the development of Taiwan’s sovereign artificial intelligence (AI) by boosting the combined computing speed of the nation’s supercomputers to 480 petaflops by 2029.
AI sovereignty refers to a country’s full autonomy over AI technologies and infrastructure, including the development of models, control and protection of data, and ensuring computing efficiency, NSTC Deputy Minister Lin Faa-jeng (林法正) said.
The NSTC’s goal is to reduce Taiwan’s dependence on external technologies and services, he said.
Photo: Wu Po-hsuan, Taipei Times
Last year, 80 percent of corporate chief executive officers recognized AI’s influence, while 57 percent included AI in their development strategies, Lin said, citing data from Gartner, a US technological research and consulting firm.
Taiwan’s domestic demand for AI is increasing every year, including large-scale language model training, climate change research, healthcare innovations, smart manufacturing and integrated circuit layout, he said, adding that the council has commissioned the National Center for High-Performance Computing to procure supercomputers to reach the necessary computing speed for AI, he added.
One type of supercomputer is driven by regular CPUs, including Taiwania 3 and Forerunner 1, which can reach 2.7 petaflops and 3.5 petaflops respectively, he said.
Another type is GPU-powered supercomputers such as Taiwania 2 and the Trustworthy AI Dialog Engine (TAIDE) language model, capable of 5.9 petaflops and 3.8 petaflops respectively, Lin said.
Cloud services and technology platforms would also be built to promote Taiwan’s academic research development, industrial applications and international competitiveness in the AI field, he added.
Additionally, the council plans to launch a scheme to construct next-generation high-speed host computers under the Taiwan Chip-based Industrial Innovation Program, Lin said.
The scheme aims for supercomputers’ combined computing speed to reach 280 petaflops by 2028, he added.
More AI supercomputers would be installed under the “Southern Silicon Valley” project to add another 200 petaflops from next year to 2029, Lin said.
The combined computing speed of supercomputers would thus reach 480 petaflops within the next five years, he added.
ChatGPT has shown the power of generative AI and the importance of sovereignty over the technology since its launch in 2022, he said.
Sixty to 70 percent of mainstream AI models are trained in English, and most of the ones in Mandarin use simplified Chinese, Lin said.
The construction of TAIDE would ensure the nation’s competitiveness by developing a model in Traditional Chinese, he said.
The center would not only create high-efficiency supercomputers based on GPUs, but also build a reliable cloud data environment, ensuring the safety of sensitive medical data, such as people’s genomes or health records, Lin added.
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Yilan at 11:05pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter was located at sea, about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km, CWA data showed There were no immediate reports of damage. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Yilan County area on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. It measured 4 in other parts of eastern, northern and central Taiwan as well as Tainan, and 3 in Kaohsiung and Pingtung County, and 2 in Lienchiang and Penghu counties and 1
FOREIGN INTERFERENCE: Beijing would likely intensify public opinion warfare in next year’s local elections to prevent Lai from getting re-elected, the ‘Yomiuri Shimbun’ said Internal documents from a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company indicated that China has been using the technology to intervene in foreign elections, including propaganda targeting Taiwan’s local elections next year and presidential elections in 2028, a Japanese newspaper reported yesterday. The Institute of National Security of Vanderbilt University obtained nearly 400 pages of documents from GoLaxy, a company with ties to the Chinese government, and found evidence that it had apparently deployed sophisticated, AI-driven propaganda campaigns in Hong Kong and Taiwan to shape public opinion, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported. GoLaxy provides insights, situation analysis and public opinion-shaping technology by conducting network surveillance
Taiwan is gearing up to celebrate the New Year at events across the country, headlined by the annual countdown and Taipei 101 fireworks display at midnight. Many of the events are to be livesteamed online. See below for lineups and links: Taipei Taipei’s New Year’s Party 2026 is to begin at 7pm and run until 1am, with the theme “Sailing to the Future.” South Korean girl group KARA is headlining the concert at Taipei City Hall Plaza, with additional performances by Amber An (安心亞), Nick Chou (周湯豪), hip-hop trio Nine One One (玖壹壹), Bii (畢書盡), girl group Genblue (幻藍小熊) and more. The festivities are to
Auckland rang in 2026 with a downtown fireworks display launched from New Zealand’s tallest structure, Sky Tower, making it the first major city to greet the new year at a celebration dampened by rain, while crowds in Taipei braved the elements to watch Taipei 101’s display. South Pacific countries are the first to bid farewell to 2025. Clocks struck midnight in Auckland, with a population of 1.7 million, 18 hours before the famous ball was to drop in New York’s Times Square. The five-minute display involved 3,500 fireworks launched from the 240m Sky Tower. Smaller community events were canceled across New Zealand’s
RSS