The government plans to invest NT$36 billion (US$1.13 billion) over five years to build the foundations for southern Taiwan to become the next big technological center, National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Minister Wu Cheng-wen (吳誠文) said yesterday.
President William Lai (賴清德), as part of his election campaign platform, proposed to “balance” development in Taiwan and make the nation a bastion of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, the council said.
The ministry’s proposed plan would start from next year to 2029, with NT$12 billion to be invested in increasing computation capacity, NT$17 billion building facilities and sites, and NT$7 billion in attracting talent and developing AI technology applications.
Photo: Wu Po-hsuan, Taipei Times
Wu said he hoped the project would grow relevant industries’ value 10-fold by the time of the project’s conclusion.
Wu emphasized that the government would provide stable power for the project, adding that the Ministry of Economic Affairs would be involved in the decisionmaking process.
NSTC Vice Minister Su Chen-kang (蘇振綱) said the project would focus on Tainan’s Shalun Township (沙崙), which already houses the Executive Yuan’s Cyber Security & Smart Technology Research & Development Building — a test site for innovative technology — Academia Sinica’s southern branch and the Green Energy Technology Demonstration Site.
Shalun would serve as the nation’s development center for the AI industry, and when combined with the S-shaped semiconductor corridor policy, and policies to build up infrastructure in the Chiayi, Ciaotou and Pingtung science parks, it would make southern Taiwan a technological center, he said.
Making southern Taiwan a technological center would help systemically integrate different industries while creating a nation with balanced development, he added.
The project would also encourage 5,400 teachers across 15 vocational schools in southern Taiwan to develop different specialties and help educate 160,000 students, increasing their competitive edge and motivation to work, Su said.
Talent-fostering platforms and centers would attract AI-related workers to Shalun, which would ultimately help feed the talent pool when industries in southern Taiwan digitize, he said.
This would help concentrate talent, information and energy in the south, allowing the region to develop key industries such as information and communications techonology, defense, metal processing, automotive components, clean energy, smart farming, and healthcare and medicine, he said.
An NSTC official commenting on condition of anonymity said that the government’s total computation capacity stands at about 19 petaflops, and the project, alongside the Taiwan Chip-based Industrial Innovation Program, is expected to grow governmental computation capacity to 480 petaflops by 2028.
The S-shaped corridor policy is centered in Kaohsiung’s Nanzih District (楠梓), serving to connect manufacturers in Lujhu (路竹) and Ciaotou (橋頭) districts to the Tainan Science Park and also extends southward to Dashe (大社), Renwu (仁武), Daliao (大寮), Linyuan (林園) and Siaogang (小港) districts, forming a concentration of semiconductor-related industries.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS