A Glimpse into Taiwan Tech Industry
Taiwan has developed a strong heritage of hardware and software integration since the past 3 decades, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) ranked on the top 10 world-leading technology companies by Thomson Reauters Corp. Foxconn is also the world’s largest multinational electronics manufacturing company by manufacturing chips for Apple, Google and etc. By building on its economics, Taipei City stands a good chance to develop a globally competitive startup ecosystem in AI, software, and semi-conductor.
Artificial Intelligence
In Taiwan, the artificial intelligence technology is widely used in intelligence manufacturing, E-commerce, and virtual reality, it has become a niche industry. In recent years, the startup team has been moving forward to AI technology by developing ICT, finance industry through problem-solving and system upgrading.
Besides, the Taiwan government had various programs to train AI talents. In 2018, Pervasive AI Research (PAIR) was launched by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) in the hopes of integrating AI technology into people’s lives, work, and leisure in the most human way. PAIR's mission is to extract the application know-how while utilizing AI technologies to resolve the issues of diverse industries by developing the international AI expertise and leading position through service and information sharing in order to establish the international AI research center.
Google launched “Intelligent Taiwan”, this program aims to nurture AI talents through reinforcement learning and recommendations systems for medical capturing deep learning solution. During May 2018, Taiwan launched 3 AI seminars collaborated with Google, the seminars focused on Machine Learning Crash Course which had attracted more than 180 professionals and professors to attend this seminar. The software firm Microsoft announced to pick Taiwan to grow its artificial intelligence business, it would expect to have 34 million Taiwan R&D.
Software
Taiwan has a rich pool of talent around the region, Taiwan is the 4th out of 72 countries in match and science categories of a worldwide study carried out by OECD; 45% of Taiwan between 25 and 64 years old have received higher education.
In 2017, Taiwan intended to shift Taiwan’s economy from “efficiency-driven” to “innovation-driven”, focusing on “Asia Silicon Valley” “Smart Machinery”, “Biotech Medicine”, “Green Energy” and “Defense”. This initiative attempts to drive the development of Taiwan’s software industry. Other than that, a budget of US $46.8 million per year will be supporting both central and local for improving Taiwan’s cybersecurity environment from 2017 to 2020.
Semi-Conductor
Taiwan is holding its own as a hub for semiconductor manufacturing, attracting steady new investment from chipmakers and other firms in the industry’s supply chain. The island manufactures about 25–30% of integrated circuits (ICs) globally and is home to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker.
In 2017, Taiwan was the top market for materials used in semiconductor production, with sales reaching US$10.3 billion, according to SEMI, the global IC industry association. Taiwan has maintained that position on the back of its strength in IC manufacturing and packaging, SEMI said.
According to the Industrial Economics and Knowledge Center, the production value of Taiwan’s semiconductor industry is expected to grow more than 7 percent annually in 2018 as demand increases for integrated circuit (IC) devices for artificial intelligence applications. The production value of Taiwan’s IC industry is hitting US$82 billion in 2018.
The Taiwan government has established more than US$ 60m into capital pool with investment priorities on startups in TTA. The main vision and motivation are to establish Taiwan as a startup nation through Taiwan Tech Arena.
