New Google office building featuring AI opens in New Taipei

Taipei, April 25 (CNA) Google Taiwan opened its second building featuring "AI and hardware future" in New Taipei's Banqiao District on Thursday, witnessed by a "star-studded" audience including President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Vice President-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), and American Institute in Taiwan Director Sandra Oudkirk.

The new building is the company's second at what it calls the "TPark campus" in Banqiao after the first opened in 2021, a time when the COVID-19 pandemic prevented the company from holding a ceremony, said Ana Corrales, chief operating officer for Google's Devices & Services business.

Corrales, who came to Taiwan to celebrate the opening with local "Googlers" -- a term the company uses to refer to Google employees -- said Google Taiwan has grown by a factor of 20 over the past 10 years to include "thousands" from more than 30 countries, without specifying the exact number.

President Tsai said she expects that with the new building, the company will continue its cooperation with Taiwan to ensure the country's expertise in chips, 6G, and AI technologies retains its developing drive and makes a positive contribution to the world.

The expanded investment by Google shows that the world anticipates continued growth in Taiwan's market and potential, she stressed.

"As of last year, since 2016, foreign enterprises have made an annual investment in Taiwan of US$10.3 billion, and in 2023 alone, foreign enterprise investment in Taiwan reached US$11.25 billion," Tsai said, adding that by being a destination for more foreign companies, Taiwan can maintain its key position in the global supply chain.

Calling the list of attendees on Thursday "star-studded," Oudkirk said the gathering "exemplifies how important this event is both to the economy and people to the city" and "is a symbol of the mutually complementary economic relationship between the United States and Taiwan."

Other attendees at the event on Thursday included Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁), Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) and New Taipei Mayor Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜).

Elmer Peng (彭昱鈞), vice president for hardware engineering at Google Taiwan, noted that Taiwan has been Google's largest hardware engineering hub outside the United States since its first building went up.

"Now the second building is complete with more than 50 new labs for hardware engineering and development," he said, adding that the expansion is to accommodate new technologies that will be tested for Google's Pixel ecosystem.