Nvidia CEO says supercomputer will help Taiwan build AI industry

Taipei, May 21 (CNA) Nvidia is planning to build an AI factory supercomputer for Taiwan because it wants to prop up Taiwan's AI sector and AI research environment, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said Wednesday.

"AI is a technology that...everybody understands [is] quite incredible and can solve many problems for us, but that's just the technology layer. AI is also an industry," Huang said during a brief media session at the Mandarin Oriental Taipei when asked why he wanted to build a supercomputer for Taiwan.

The Taiwanese American tycoon unveiled the plan on Monday during his keynote address at COMPUTEX, which is being held in Taipei.

The initiative will come in the form of a partnership between the National Science and Technology Council, Foxconn (known in Taiwan as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co.), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and his company, Huang said.

"Taiwan should have an AI industry here to serve all of its local industries, health care companies, industrial companies, manufacturing companies, of course, semiconductor companies, education, [and] society," Huang said Wednesday.

"Taiwan needs to have AI infrastructure here. And it's really important that Taiwan also takes advantage of this opportunity to jump into AI research," he said.

That would entail building an "AI ecosystem" and teaching researchers, scientists and industries how AI works, Huang said.

"The first job is to build the AI factory. The second job is to teach people how to use it," he said.

Asked which company participating in COMPUTEX he was most impressed with when he visited the show on Tuesday, Huang said he could not choose one as they were all impressive.

He noted that he was "happy to see a lot of energy" around robotics and robots at the event.

"Robots are going to be the next industrial revolution, and Taiwan has to be at the center of that," Huang said.