Google launches second R&D facility
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋).
This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said.
The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said.
Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy and strengthened its pull on major global investors, with the volume of foreign investment rising to US$11.25 billion last year, she said, adding that the average annual foreign investment volume in Taiwan was US$10.3 billion between 2016 and last year, up from US$5.36 billion between 2008 and 2015.
The surge in foreign investment shows that the nation has further cemented its position in global supply chains and raised its profile on the world stage, Tsai said.
The president thanked Google for contributing to the government’s “Smart Taiwan” initiative, including efforts to upgrade the information technology sector, increase the application of smart technology in industries and scale up Taiwan’s digital economy.
Google has demonstrated corporate social responsibility by providing educational resources to rural schools and joining the National Institute of Cyber Security in the fight against fake news and cyberattacks, Tsai said.
It has been 11 years since Google established its first regional-level data center in the nation and it is currently building four undersea cables to connect Taiwan to the world, Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) said.
This is to establish Taiwan as a key nexus through which global digital data would flow, bolstering the nation’s competitiveness and importance to the international community, he said.
Google opened its first Taiwan office in 2006 and has presided over the continuous growth of its Taiwanese team since then, Google vice president of hardware Elmer Peng (彭昱鈞) said.
The tech giant’s team in Taiwan, which is 20 times larger than its size 10 years ago, now recruits workers from more than 30 countries and regions around the world, Peng said.