Taiwan Will Train 10,000 AI Workers Per Year For Google, Microsoft And More To Meet Rising Demand

Joseph "Joe" Kava, head of data centers at Google, third from right, and Scott Beaumont, head of Greater China at Google, first right, attend the opening ceremony of the Google data center in Changhua, Taiwan, in 2013. 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.