Powerchip chairman meets Macron, proposes Taiwan-France AI cooperation

Taipei, May 14 (CNA) Frank Huang (黃崇仁), chairman of Taiwan's Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. (PSMC), met with French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday and proposed cooperation in artificial intelligence development, according to his company.

In a statement Tuesday, the contract chipmaker said Huang was invited to attend a round table on AI and Quantum investment opportunities presided over by Macron in Paris on May 13 to discuss technology development trends.

Huang, the only entrepreneur from East Asia invited by France to the forum, said many U.S. companies have worked with their Taiwanese counterparts in tech development and taken advantage of Taiwan's well-developed information technology platform to support their global operations, PSMC said.

They include IT service provider IBM, software developer Microsoft Corp., search engine provider Google Inc., consumer electronics giant Apple Inc., and AI chip designers Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. and Nvidia Corp., Huang said, according to the PSMC statement.

Singling out Nvidia, Huang said Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) has repeatedly sought out Taiwan's semiconductor industry for help in supplying high-end chips as develops more advanced AI graphics processing units (GPUs).

PSMC's Huang said that if France learned from the United States in making good use of Taiwan's well-developed technology platform and its tech companies' experience, France and Taiwan could create mutual benefit related to technology upgrades, cost controls, and service improvements.

France has built a strong foundation in fundamental technologies, but has not built cooperative ties with Taiwan as close as those of the U.S., the PSMC chairman said.

He said France could leverage Taiwan's tech advantages to build its own strength in emerging technologies, such as AI applications.

According to PSMC, the round table was also attended by representatives from U.S. and European companies including IBM, Netherlands'-based semiconductor equipment supplier ASML Holding N.V, and U.S.-based e-commerce operator Amazon.com Inc.

In addition, representatives of sovereign wealth funds from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were also present, PSMC said.

The forum was part of a Choose France summit, held to drum up foreign investment in France.