The US-based Super Micro Computer Inc and Taiwan’s Guo Rui on Wednesday announced a joint venture to build a computation center powered only by renewable energy.
After meeting with Supermicro founder Charles Liang (梁見後) and Guo Rui chairman Lin Po-wen (林博文), Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) instructed a cross-ministry panel to be established to help promote the government’s green energy policies and facilitate efforts to obtain land for the generation of green power, Executive Yuan spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said.
Cho thanked Liang for his company’s support of the government’s 2019 Action Plan for Welcoming Overseas Taiwanese Businesses to Return to Invest in Taiwan, and Supermicro’s willingness to work with Taiwanese companies and increase their international clout.
Photo: Fang Wei-chieh, Taipei Times
While the premier did not openly instruct the ministries to facilitate the companies’ joint venture, he asked Executive Yuan Secretary-General Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) and the Ministry of Economic Affairs to head a cross-ministerial task force to increase Taiwan’s attraction for international investment in renewable energy and artificial intelligence (AI), Lee said.
An Executive Yuan source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the government should facilitate foreign investors’ increased investment in Taiwan, as such investments go hand-in-hand with government policies to grow AI and renewable energies.
While the economic ministry is not leading the task force, it would be the primary facilitator for cross-ministry efforts, the source said, adding that Kung has been included, as he had worked with Liang before.
Separately, Nvidia Corp also stated its intent to establish a secondary headquarters in Taiwan that would be equal in size to its Silicon Valley headquarters.
At the agency’s end-of-year news conference on Wednesday, National Development Council Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) said that foreign investors were willing to establish offices and centers in Taiwan because of the nation’s significant talent pool and relevant infrastructure, including the availability of water, power and Internet services, as well as the proximity to their supply chains.
Taiwan’s information technology and semiconductor industries are well-developed and could significantly influence global AI development, Liu said.
If such trends continue, Taiwan could form a new international hub for AI, he said.
Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said that the Taipei City Government would be in close contact with Nvidia representatives and would endeavor to persuade Nvidia to establish its overseas headquarters in Taipei.
Meanwhile, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said the New Taipei City Government has prepared a portfolio of possible sites and preferential measures that the municipality is willing to offer.
Hou and Chiang made the comments on Tuesday before a meeting of next year’s World Masters Games organization committee.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”