Mark Liu (劉德音), former chairman of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), has founded an academic center at the University of California, Berkeley to enhance US tech competitiveness.
The Technology Competitiveness and Industrial Policy Center (TCIP), founded and supported by Liu, was announced by the university in a news release on Thursday last week.
“Over the past several decades, globalization has decoupled upstream research from downstream manufacturing of high-technology products. As a result, new innovations do not necessarily translate into wealth creation,” Liu said in the statement.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
“With the ever-increasing dependence of society on technology, this separation is eroding our nation's technology leadership, the cornerstone of economic power and security,” Liu said.
“A national strategy is needed to strengthen the pipeline from research to product development and manufacturing, and to ensure end-market access,” he said.
The TCIP would provide “expert, independent scholarly advice to policymakers and lawmakers on technology policy development” to ensure US leadership in areas such as tech research and development and advanced manufacturing, the release said.
The new center was established under the university's College of Engineering and would convene experts in technology, economics and policy from academia, the industrial sector and non-profits, the release said.
After the recent “disruption” from China's introduction of DeepSeek, it is “increasingly imperative to restore US leadership in advanced technology — including artificial intelligence — and this center will accelerate progress toward this goal,” said S. Shankar Sastry, a computer science professor at the university who would serve as the center's faculty director.
Liu, who was born and raised in Taiwan and attended graduate school at UC Berkeley, served as chairman of TSMC from 2018 to last year.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,