To help Taiwanese businesses stay ahead of global trends and seize new opportunities, the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) hosted a seminar offering firsthand insights from the Mobile World Congress (MWC), the world’s largest and most influential mobile technology event which took place in Barcelona from March 3 to March 6.
Industry, Science, and Technology International Strategy Center (ISTI) senior analyst Jack Yang (楊玉奇) noted that "5G+AI" has become the core engine for telecom operators, driving advancements across front-end and back-end operations. Beyond applications requiring low-latency performance such as vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, live sports broadcasting, and drone technology, telecom providers also unveiled cutting-edge AI solutions, including digital bionics, digital twins, language generation, and robotics. In retail, automation is reshaping the consumer experience, with technologies including robotic restocking systems, self-driving delivery vehicles, and unmanned stores becoming integral to future business models.
Yang emphasized that AI model training and deployment require extensive data, computational power, and network upgrades, posing a major investment challenge for traditional telecom companies. However, without securing control over AI platforms, telecom operators risk losing profitability to cloud and AI service providers, potentially relegating them to a marginal role in the evolving industry landscape.