After a decade spent trying to remain competitive in the global high tech race, officials in Taiwan appear to have decided the answer lies in AI. Taiwan has been losing out on consumer electronics orders from offshore brands–the island's long-time strength–as manufacturers look to cheaper factory hubs such as China. But investments in Taiwan by Google, Microsoft and Nvidia among others, all over the past year or two, show that Taiwan can start pivoting from hardware and become a leading R&D center in artificial intelligence.
In response, the government is now scrambling to develop talent, which may otherwise fall short of what it takes to keep attracting investments from big businesses. Premier Su Tseng-chang says 10,000 people will be trained every year for work in AI R&D. That ambition extends naturally from decades of educating engineers at the island's universities. Silicon Valley firms are setting up shop in Taiwan exactly because of that talent, tech analysts say.
“In less than two years, Taiwan has become a stage for AI application innovations watched by the world,” Taiwan Premier Su Tseng-chang said in a statement on May 16. AI “bases” established in Taiwan by foreign tech giants, he said, will “raise industry competitiveness as well as raising the quality of life of our citizens."
Artificial intelligence, or AI for short, refers to a type of computer science that lets machines act like humans, for example recognizing speech or making decisions based on large amounts of data.
AI education must begin early
To come up with those 10,000 people every year, the premier said AI education will “take root” in elementary and middle schools. Supplementary teaching material will enter the public schools this year, too, and about 1,000 people have signed up for a government-cosponsored online AI-applications lessons.
More on Forbes: How Taiwan Is Becoming A Top Destination For Artificial Intelligence In Asia
U.S.-based tech firms are picking Taiwan over other spots in Asia for AI projects because of the engineering “quality” as well as Taiwanese worker's reputation for loyalty and stability, American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei President William Foreman says. They know Taiwan has trained engineers since the 1980s to work on contract making tech hardware such as PCs, a major source of income before AI came along. New graduates earn an average of $1,084 per month, per this local media report.
However, there's still a talent shortage, Foreman says. “Taiwan has long had an extremely high demand for computer science talent, and the shortage of talent is growing even more acute as companies get into AI,” he says.
Worldwide, just 22,000 people are qualified to research AI well enough to start new projects, says J.F. Gagne, CEO and founder of the software firm Element AI in Montreal.
Who’s who of high tech needs the workers
In early 2018, Google, IBM and Microsoft announced expansions in Taiwan for R&D, and said they would eventually hire a a combined 600 people. Google's Chinese-language blog announced in March that it would build a new suburban Taipei office park next year with the space to double its current staff of 2,000 and do more with AI.
Those aren't the only firms looking to the island for talent. Chip developer Qualcomm said in August it would build a Taiwan production facility as the “nexus" for supply chain operations and "associated engineering and development functions.” Nvidia, a Silicon Valley-based maker of graphics processing units, entered a partnership about a year ago with Taiwan’s science and technology ministry for AI development.
Training people here to work in AI rather than in hardware will be crucial, says Helen Chiang, Taipei general manager with the market research firm IDC. She expects smartphones and PCs to incorporate AI in the near term, increasing the need for talent. “Taiwan already has a lot of AI projects in the universities, and in terms of scientists the government especially wants to cultivate this area, so the talent pool has been developing slowly over time, and the resources are quite important," Chiang says.
