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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00:00Two, one,请启动!
00:05创新,安全,热心!
00:09Betting big on artificial intelligence,
00:12President Lai Qingde announces
00:13that he will roll out incentives
00:15to help Taiwan's AI sector thrive.
00:30AI was just one of many topics
00:44covered at a forum
00:45where semiconductor supply chains
00:47took center stage.
00:49After all, no semiconductors, no AI.
00:53Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute
00:56or ITRI hosted the event.
00:58The forum sought to connect leaders
01:01in the semiconductor field
01:02in a bid to diversify global chip supply chains
01:05and decouple the industry from China.
01:08The second role we can play
01:10is to set up as a platform
01:12to build a trustable alliance.
01:14I think that's very important
01:16because everybody talking about
01:18the non-China supply chain
01:21and also the supply chain safety,
01:23supply chain resilience.
01:26Democratic supply chains
01:27have been a key policy point
01:29for President Lai.
01:31Simply put, he wants Taiwan
01:33to work more with its democratic partners
01:35and allies,
01:36lessening dependence on China,
01:38which he has called
01:39a foreign hostile force.
01:42The Lai administration
01:43showed its commitment to the policy
01:46with both the economy
01:47and foreign ministers
01:49in attendance at Friday's event.
01:51Taiwan has a major advantage
02:05in the chip-making field
02:07and is well-positioned to influence
02:09where and how semiconductors are made.
02:13As such, chips have become
02:14a crucial asset for Taiwan's diplomacy.
02:17representatives from the U.S.,
02:19Japan, France, the U.K.,
02:21the Netherlands, and more
02:23spoke at the event.
02:25Hundreds of industry leaders
02:26also attended.
02:27But some insiders believe
02:29that Taiwan should keep its politics
02:31and business separate.
02:32I think that there's a way
02:34to the best it can
02:38separate the politics
02:40from business decisions.
02:42And I think that that's the way
02:44to move forward
02:45for Taiwan to grow economically.
02:53The global trade order
02:54now faces major challenges
02:56and is reshuffling
02:58to overcome those hurdles.
02:59Much of the uncertainty
03:01is fueled by U.S. President
03:03Donald Trump's
03:04ambiguous tariff policies,
03:06which have also taken aim
03:07at semiconductors.
03:09The world's largest chipmaker,
03:11TSMC, has asked the U.S.
03:13to consider tariff exemptions
03:15on semiconductor products
03:16after it announced
03:17a $165 billion U.S. investment
03:21in America.
03:22But Trump has made no promises.
03:25Even as anxiety continues
03:27to hang over global trade,
03:28Taiwan is using this moment
03:30to shift the winds in its favor.
03:33Leon Lian and Leslie Liao
03:34for Taiwan Plus.