The government has given the green light to build a major AI and high-tech hub in Taiwan called the "Greater Southern New Silicon Valley Promotion Plan." It's part of plans to ensure Taiwan remains competitive in the dawning era of artificial intelligence.
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00:00A plan to build Taiwan's own Silicon Valley has been given the green light by the government.
00:06This project would see multiple tech hubs connected to focus more on artificial intelligence.
00:11Joyce Zeng has more for us from the newsroom here in Taipei.
00:15Joyce, this is a huge project.
00:18What exactly does it involve?
00:20Hey Eric, this is a huge milestone for Taiwan's tech sector that's been years in the making.
00:28This new government plan which is being launched as we speak at a ceremony in Tainan where
00:34President Lai Ching-Teh is expected to attend.
00:37The plan is to link four major tech parks in the south into an S-corridor, the S referring
00:44to the shape, from the park in Chiayi City to Tainan to Kaohsiung and finally Pingtung,
00:51all to make sure that Taiwan is a leader in this dawning era for AI.
00:57These parks are essentially massive clusters of private companies, startups, research centers
01:02and also supporting government facilities for things like power and water that all form
01:08this ecosystem to more efficiently drive innovation and business.
01:14In this industry, it helps to have easy access to each other, AI works because it's a marriage
01:21of different fields bringing their latest innovations together to create something more
01:27powerful.
01:28If you move around these parks, we're talking about having a TSMC fab right there making
01:33the most advanced chips in the world and then down the road, there's a Delta site, 3M, major
01:39optoelectronics firms.
01:41You're just surrounded by big players.
01:44Now, the idea of going a step further and connecting these parks across cities gives
01:50Taiwan a larger resource and talent base to expand into things like AI, drones, smart
01:57agriculture and more.
02:00Joyce, we know that these high-tech operations, they need a lot of resources, especially water.
02:06But we've seen the southern region hit pretty bad by droughts in recent years.
02:10So how do these challenges fit into this plan?
02:14Right, Eric, that is one of the biggest questions.
02:18How will Taiwan manage its resources for this new Silicon Valley while ensuring residents
02:24and other businesses in the south still have enough things like power and water?
02:29The tech ministry has assured that there will be enough resources to go around.
02:33We're still learning though what that looks like exactly.
02:37But to start, the ministry has described a plan to connect all the reservoirs in the
02:42region.
02:43There are eight in the south.
02:45Like you said, Eric, this is a drought-prone area of the country.
02:49There have been severe droughts in recent years.
02:52Water levels rose significantly last year after three typhoons.
02:57But water is still an important variable here.
03:00Power too.
03:01Taiwan is no stranger to blackouts.
03:03The biggest players like TSMC have backup generators to keep operations going.
03:09But energy is still another issue to watch, especially as other foreign firms like Nvidia
03:14AMD also look to set up shop in Taiwan.