Microsoft has announced its biggest investment in Taiwan in 31 years. The company has already set up centers in Taiwan for IoT innovation and Artificial Intelligence R&D. It also started an accelerator to foster startups.
Now, Microsoft is launching its biggest endeavor here to date: an Azure datacenter region. The company will also set up an Azure cloud hardware and infrastructure team in a bid to make Taiwan an operations hub in Asia.
In a speech at Monday’s launch, President Tsai Ing-wen said that Microsoft is the best partner for Taiwan in the international community, and a powerful key to deepening Taiwan-US cooperation. She said that Taiwan has irreplaceable advantages when it comes to high-end hardware manufacturing. In particular, she said, Taiwan’s protection of information security and intellectual property makes it a reliable and safe partner for the United States and other countries that specialize in high tech.
Microsoft says its latest investment in Taiwan will generate about NT$300 billion (US$10.5 billion) in value and create about 30,000 jobs. The company says it could help cultivate about 200,000 professionals in related fields by 2024.