Google opens multidisciplinary AI hub in Taiwan

Google’s largest AI hardware hub outside the U.S. / Photo: Shutterstock, photo editor: Serikzhan Kovlanbayev

On Nov. 20, Alphabet Inc.’s subsidiary Google established a new artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure hardware engineering center in Taiwan. According to Reuters, this marks the company’s largest center like this outside the U.S.

According to a Google blog post, the new site will serve as a multidisciplinary hub for AI innovation and is expected to create hundreds of jobs.

«The technology developed and tested in Taipei is deployed in Google data centers around the world, which in turn power Google devices that billions of people rely on every day,» Reuters cited Aamer Mahmood, Google Cloud’s vice president of platforms infrastructure engineering, as saying.

In turn, Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te said the move reflects the technology giant’s confidence in the island as a reliable partner, emphasizing Taiwan’s role not only as part of the world’s technology supply chain but also as a development hub for safe and reliable AI.

Notably, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is the largest chipmaker, whose products are used to drive the AI industry’s upsurge by companies like Nvidia.

Previously, Alphabet CEO outlined both the risks of an AI bubble and the long-term growth potential of AI technologies.