Nvidia's GPU Technology Conference in San Jose in 2024. CNA photo
Taipei, May 8 (CNA) Nvidia's first AI research and development center in Asia, which is being built in Taiwan, is 40 percent complete, according to Chiou Chyou-huey (邱求慧), head of the Ministry of Economic Affairs' Department of Industrial Technology.
The five-year project, which was started in 2023, seeks to hire 1,000 employees, build a supercomputer, named "Taipei-1," and work with Taiwan's industry and research institutions to develop AI technologies and products, the ministry said.
Chiou told CNA that as the project enters its second year, up to 400 R&D-related employees have been employed.
On the hardware side, the installment of "Taipei-1" was completed at the end of last year, he said.
Asked about the supercomputer, Chiou said it consists of 64 Nvidia DGX H100, with each DGX H100 composing eight H100 GPUs.
A graphic processing unit (GPU) is a computer chip that has overtaken the traditional central processing unit (CPU) to become the most important computing technology in the AI era.
As of 2023, H100 GPU was considered the company's most advanced -- and the world's most powerful GPU according to Nvidia -- powering Meta and Open AI for generative AI training and inference.
The supercomputer also has 32 OVX computing systems, which are designed to build 3D virtual worlds and immersive digital twin simulations that have wide applications such as product development for manufacturing or better personalized care in healthcare.
As per the agreement with the ministry, a quarter of Taipei-1's computing power will be provided to Taiwanese companies and research institutions to use for free for six weeks from July 2024 to February 2027 upon application, Chiou said.
He said the application, which closes at the end of May, is open to all kinds of institutions, companies and startups for non-commercial use.
The supercomputer is situated in Kaohsiung, he added.
Meanwhile, the ministry official denied a local report claiming a "second" R&D center was to be built.
"Nvidia's R&D center is not one single building, so there is no question of a 'second' one, as the company's R&D projects are placed around the country," Chiou said.
According to the Department of Industrial Technology's website, Nvidia's AI R&D center project was approved in December 2021, with the ministry providing a subsidy of NT$6.7 billion (US$206.7 million) and the company investing NT$17.6 billion.
Nvidia setting up its first AI R&D center in Asia in Taiwan is part of the government's "Supreme A+ Program" -- initiated in 2020 -- to attract global pioneers in innovation to invest in state-of-the-art technologies in semiconductors, communications and AI in Taiwan.
U.S. company Micron was granted a subsidy of NT$4.7 billion in 2021 under the same program for a project that focuses on developing advanced memory technologies.
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