The new AI park is the basis of the AI ​​industry: Prime Minister

Prime Minister Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said on Saturday that the new artificial intelligence industrial park to be built in Tainan will be the basis for the development of artificial intelligence as an industry and its application in other sectors.

During his visit to Tainan, Cho toured the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City project site and said that the first two parts of the project to be constructed – the Cybersecurity and Smart Technology Research and Development Building and the Shalun Green Energy Technology Demonstration Site – represent the starting point for development artificial intelligence city of science.

He added that the new artificial intelligence park is expected to expand to these two areas.

Photo: Wu Chun-feng, Taipei Times

The National Council for Science Technology, one of the agencies that oversees the park, said it will house data centers, with other sections planned for zero-emission technologies, quantum science, smart agriculture, smart transportation and smart medicine.

Cho said the park was established to implement President William Lai’s (賴清德) policy of supporting “five trusted industries” – semiconductors, artificial intelligence, defense, security and surveillance, and next-generation communications.

Major technology companies such as Nvidia and AMD are planning to expand their bases in Taiwan, and the government has an obligation to provide good infrastructure to facilitate their investments, he said.

The industrial park would be another base connecting to northern Kaohsiung, creating a “southern smart corridor,” he said.

North Kaohsiung is becoming home to high-tech parks, including the Northern Kaohsiung Industrial Park project, which began last year, and the Ciaotou Science Park, which aims to attract semiconductor, smart machinery and space-related companies.

The Nanzih Technology Industrial Park is also developing, where Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is building a factory producing advanced 2-nanometer wafers.

Council Chairman Wu Cheng-wen (吳誠文) said his agency will accelerate the construction of data centers and work with leading international enterprises to turn Shalun into a bastion of artificial intelligence research and development in the Asia-Pacific region.

Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) said the artificial intelligence park could benefit from the presence of artificial intelligence research institutes at National Cheng Kung University and the Tainan campus of National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, and would eventually benefit other southern cities as well .