Taipei, June 18 (CNA) Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫), head of the National Development Council (NDC), said Saturday he will lead a delegation to the U.S. to discuss exchanges on 5G development with tech giants such as Microsoft and Google.
The delegation would depart Saturday night (Taipei time) for the 11-day visit, with stops in San Francisco, Seattle and Washington D.C., Kung told reporters.
According to Kung, the 41-member NextGen Telecom Delegation will visit Microsoft, Google and Amazon to seek opportunities for 5G cooperation.
The NDC, Taiwan's top economic planning body, has been pushing a massive eight-year forward-looking infrastructure plan under the Special Budget Statute for Forward-Looking Infrastructure, which was passed by the Legislature Yuan in 2017 and proposes investing up to NT$840 billion (US$28.28 billion) to strengthen Taiwan's 5G network, among other infrastructure projects.
Meanwhile, the government has also initiated the "Asia Silicon Valley" plan to further cement Taiwan's strength in 5G development and help to localize the production of 5G equipment.
In addition to the visits to Google, Microsoft and Amazon, the delegation will also visit several other U.S. firms involved in the development of blockchain, composite materials and components, and 3D projection technologies.
According to the NDC, the delegation includes officials from the agency and the Ministry of Economic Affairs, as well as representatives from Taiwanese enterprises such as telecom service provider Chunghwa Telecom Co., iPhone assembler Pegatron Corp., contract notebook computer maker Compal Electronics Inc., and datacenter solution provider Quanta Cloud Technology Inc.
Kung said that if the visits led to participation from U.S. firms in Taiwan's already mature tech ecosystem, the country's capabilities in 5G development will be further cemented, paving the path for the development of artificial intelligence of things (AIoT) endeavors.
Invited by Sandra Oudkirk, director of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), the de facto U.S. embassy in Taiwan, the NDC and the AIT will hold a NextGen Telecom roundtable forum in Silicon Valley, where the Taiwanese delegates are expected to meet with representatives from the major U.S. telecom equipment developers such as smartphone IC designer Qualcomm Inc.
The NDC added the delegation would also visit officials in Washington State to discuss the 5G Open Innovation policy.
According to the NDC, Kung and Taiwan's top trade negotiator John Deng (鄧振中) will attend the SelectUSA Investment Summit, an annual event sponsored by the U.S. Department of Commerce that focuses on facilitating job-creating investment in the U.S. market.
In addition, Kung will deliver speeches at two U.S.-based think tanks, the Global Taiwan Institute and the German Marshall Fund, to tout the joint efforts between Taipei and Washington to build a resilient global supply chain and forge their bilateral ties, the NDC said.
Kung will wrap up the U.S. visit on June 29 before he leads another Taiwanese delegation to Japan for exchanges on renewable energy development such as hydrogen power and carbon capture, the NDC said.
According to the NDC, the delegation to Japan will be made up of representatives from more than 30 Taiwanese startups.
Kung is scheduled to return to Taipei July 6, according to the NDC.
Sources: OCAC
