【Taiwan's Role in the New Age of Tech】
The fourth industrial revolution is upon us. Companies and industries alike will increasingly look to deep technologies to optimize their processes and maximize the value they bring end customers.
At the heart of this transition is Taiwan, a little island of 23.5 million people that punches well above its weight in terms of technical ingenuity and penchant towards innovation.
Most people likely recognize the country for its longstanding history as a manufacturing powerhouse.
“In 2017, Taiwan ranked third out of 159 nations for broadband download speeds. Further reflecting its robust manufacturing industry, the country produces 70 per cent of the world's integrated circuits and 90 per cent of laptops sold around the globe. “
Lesser known is the country's growing prowess in software and artificial intelligence. Taiwan's universities churn out upwards of 10,000 software engineers per year and start out at a fraction of the cost of what you might find in other Asian tech hubs. This is on top of the fact that fact that Taiwanese students regularly outperform the majority of its global peers when it comes to math and science.
It's no wonder why tech giants such as Google, Microsoft, IBM, and Amazon have all chosen Taiwan as a strategic R&D centers.
But it's not just the big guys, startups like Shopee, Carousell, ShopBack, and Lalamove have also increasingly sought out Taiwan's mature digital economy as an ideal market to fuel regional R&D or testbed new ideas.
Whether it's AI or IoT, Taiwan's unique cross-section of hardware and software leaves the nation in an ideal position to truly embrace this new age of tech.
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-Jun Wakabayashi
Analyst, AppWorks
