New York, July 31 (CNA) A New York-headquartered artificial intelligence (AI) company signed a letter of intent (LOI) Tuesday with the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), agreeing to invest in Taiwan as part of efforts to expand its business horizons.
Witnessed by Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming- hsin (龔明鑫), Graphen CEO Lin Ching-yung (林清詠) signed the LOI, which outlines plans to increase investment in its Taipei branch to foster talent and promote the application of AI in the fields of financial services and medical treatment.
According to Lin, Graphen plans to open a new AI research and development facility in Taiwan and form a research team comprising scores of employees to train world-class AI talent and commercialize its technologies.
As Graphen has applied AI technologies in the areas of financial technology and anti-money laundering, Kung said Graphen is capable of connecting with Taiwan's financial sector immediately and teaming up with Taiwan's medical sector to explore greater possibilities for AI applications.
Stressing that talent is the key for Taiwan to meet future challenges and become competitive, Kung envisioned that Taiwan's digital economy could take off on par with other advanced countries, in particular the United States, through such contacts with foreign firms.
In response to Kung's remarks, Lin noted that Graphen has been cooperating with the FinTech Research Center under National Chengchi University and has been talking with Academia Sinica, National Defense Medical Center and the Chang Gung Medical Foundation to explore cooperative ventures.
On its website, Graphen describes itself as a company devoted to building next-generation AI platforms based on graphs to produce full brain functions and generate novel industry solutions, ranging from anti-money laundering and monitoring centers to cybersecurity and loan risk prediction.
Graphen has branches in Austin, Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore and Taipei.
Traveling at the head of an MOEA delegation, Kung arrived in New York Sunday on a visit to recruit foreign-based talent and investment for Taiwan.
Kung was scheduled to proceed to Chicago later Tuesday, where he was to visit Boeing and seek cooperation opportunities with local makers of airplane components before flying to San Francisco, the last leg of his trip, where he will meet representatives of semiconductor and Internet of Things companies.
(By Ozzy Yin and Flor Wang)
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