Nvidia CEO eyes AI, robotics to fill labor shortage in Taiwan

Taipei, May 23 (CNA) Nvidia Corp. CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said Taiwan should "expand its opportunity" with "agentic artificial intelligence" (AI) and robotics to address its labor shortage, speaking before leaving the country Friday after a weeklong visit.

2025 will be a "very exciting" year for AI, as the technology can now "reason," Huang told reporters at the Mandarin Oriental in Taipei before heading to Taipei Songshan Airport on Friday morning.

"It can now think step by step by step, and solve problems it has never seen before -- it's called agentic AI, AI agents," he said, adding that these agents will help people perform multiple tasks at work and in daily life.

"The technology has also reached a level where we can have robotics. Here in Taiwan, we have many great ideas, but there are not enough people," Huang said.

"Now with AI and robots, Taiwan can expand its opportunity," he added.

Huang also touched on Blackwell, Nvidia's latest graphics processing unit microarchitecture designed to accelerate AI workloads, saying he was "very excited" to see its production ramping up in Taiwan.

"All of our partners are in full production, and the excitement is so great all over the island ... We're going to bring AI all over the world," he said.

After arriving at the airport, Huang told reporters he will "absolutely come back for Chinese New Year," before entering the Skyvision Jet Center to board his private jet.

Huang's visit began last Friday with a packed schedule, including meetings with Nvidia's Taiwanese partners and a keynote speech at Computex Taipei 2025, where he announced "Beitou Shilin" as the company's new Taiwan office and unveiled plans to build "the first giant AI supercomputer" for Taiwan.

The Nvidia founder also gave an exclusive interview to local TV channel TVBS, urging the Taiwanese government to provide more energy resources to support the development of the AI industry in Taiwan.

"The current industries include chip plants, packaging, and of course electronics manufacturing -- when you manufacture things, it requires energy," Huang said.

As the AI industry grows, a wide range of sectors in Taiwan -- including tech firms, educational and research institutions, and established companies across industries -- also need access to AI infrastructure, he added.

Having previously noted that the giant AI will be crucial in developing "world-class AI infrastructure," Huang said in the interview that its energy consumption will start at 20 megawatts this year and rapidly scale up to 100 megawatts.

"The limitation is just the availability of energy, and I really hope that the Taiwanese government will support us with that," he added.