President Lai Ching-te says AI will soon be a crucial part of life and that Taiwan strives to be an industry leader. To help cultivate the sector, he teased incentives for AI companies at a semiconductor forum in Taipei as his administration hopes to realign the country's chip supply chain with like-minded, democratic partners.
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00:00Global tech giants have descended on Taipei this week for Computex, one of the world's biggest tech trade shows.
00:06Taiwan, home to the world's top semiconductor manufacturers, remains at the heart of the global tech supply chain.
00:13But the country is also strengthening ties with democratic allies to secure and reshape that supply chain.
00:19Taiwan's president went to a key forum on Friday as part of those moves.
00:23Our reporter Leslie Lau was also there and joins us now from our Taipei newsroom.
00:27Leslie, what came out of the event?
00:30Hi, Sandy. Well, President Lai Qingde was at Friday's event, highlighting the important role artificial intelligence will play in the coming years.
00:41He said he'll offer incentives to help Taiwan's AI sector thrive. Have a listen.
00:46AI was just one of the topics covered on Friday's forum.
01:15The main issue was semiconductor supply chains.
01:19At a time when the global trade order is being reshuffled, Taiwan wants to use its influential place in the semiconductor industry to realign its supply chains with like-minded democratic partners.
01:32Now, that means that what goes into a chip will be produced, sourced and shipped through Taiwan's partner countries.
01:38Friday's event was hosted by Taiwan's industrial technology research institute, and it comes hot off the heels of Computex, one of the world's biggest tech trade shows, which was held in Taipei.
01:51Now, the Lai administration has made what it calls democratic supply chains a key policy point.
01:58President Lai Qingde wants to decouple Taiwan's supply chains from China, which he has called a hostile foreign force.
02:05And semiconductors, an area where Taiwan excels, is just one of the industries that Lai has targeted for this transition.
02:13To give you an idea of how important democratic supply chains are to the Lai administration, well, the president, the economy minister, the foreign minister, all major policymakers were at Friday's event.
02:27And as a leader in chip making, in global chip making, Taiwan is leveraging its influence in the area, in the field, to help foster global ties and increase its international presence.
02:42Representatives from the U.S., the U.K., Japan, France, the Netherlands were all spoke at Friday's event, and hundreds of industry leaders attended as well.
02:51So that just gives you an idea of how much weight Taiwan's semiconductor prowess holds.
02:57Leslie, why does the semiconductor supply chain need re-evaluating? Why now?
03:07One of the biggest challenges facing global trade is U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff policies.
03:14Trump has gone back and forth on his tariff policies, and that includes for semiconductors.
03:19The world's biggest chipmaker, TSMC, has asked the U.S. for tariff exemptions,
03:25and that comes as TSMC has promised $165 billion U.S. dollars in investment in America, but Trump has made no promises.
03:35Even so, in the face of such uncertainty and at a time when Taiwan and when the world's supply chains are being shaken up,
03:42Taiwan is using this opportunity and its semiconductor supply chain to strengthen global ties.
03:48Thanks, Leslie. That was Leslie Leal live from Taipei.