Taiwan’s ranking in the Observer’s Global Artificial Intelligence (AI) Index rose from 21st last year to 16th this year, although its scores in talent, development and commercial ecosystem continued to lag.
The Observer’s Global AI Index ranked 94 countries across innovation, investment and real-world AI adoption, with the US topping this year’s list, followed by China, Singapore, the UK and South Korea. From the sixth to 15th places were France, Israel, Canada, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, Japan, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia and Finland.
Taiwan’s strengths lie in government strategy, where it ranked eighth globally, and infrastructure, placing seventh, Industrial Development Administration Director-General Chiou Chyou-huey (邱求慧) wrote on social media on Friday.
Photo: Chiang Ying-ying, AP
The government’s AI-related policies and Taiwan Chip-based Industrial Innovation Program, together with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and the hardware capabilities of the server supply chain, elevated the nation’s performance in those two indicators to a world-class level, Chiou said.
Taiwan also showed steady progress in AI-related policies and operating environment, ranking 15th, as well as in research, where it placed 18th, he said, adding that the results indicated Taiwan’s system and environment are becoming increasingly mature.
The nation lagged in three indicators: talent, development and commercial ecosystem, Chiou said.
Talent measures the availability of skilled AI practitioners, while development assesses the ability to apply AI knowledge to create new AI assets and products at a practical level, the Observer said.
Commercial ecosystem focuses on the scale and breadth of private investment in AI companies and the dynamism of the broader commercial environment, it said.
Taiwan ranked 33rd in talent, reflecting a severe shortage of advanced AI specialists in the nation, while placing 30th in commercial ecosystem indicates a lack of enterprises and start-ups capable of generating profit from AI services, Chiou said.
The nation was 27th in the development indicator, as most citizens remain users of AI tools rather than creators of the underlying technologies, he said.
The three weaknesses together form bottlenecks that prevent Taiwan from breaking into the global top 10, Chiou said.
Although hardware strength and government commitment can move the nation toward the frontier, Taiwan must still bolster its software talent and industry ecosystem if it hopes to become a leading AI nation, he added.
Pegatron Corp (和碩) chairman Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢) yesterday said Taiwan should not be overly concerned about changes in its ranking, as the nation remains an important player in the global AI wave.
Although Taiwan only has a population of 23 million, it can still serve as an essential partner in the technology sector, particularly within the global information technology ecosystem, Tung said.
Given the nation’s important position in the global technology landscape, it is natural for people to worry about whether its ranking advances or falls, he said.
However, people should move forward with a steady mindset, rather than becoming overly concerned about rankings, he added.
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