NEW TAIPEI (TVBS News) — Google inaugurated its second hardware research and development building in Banqiao, New Taipei City on Thursday (April 25), making Taiwan the largest hardware R&D base outside its U.S. headquarters.
The new building houses over 50 advanced laboratories, aiming to gather global tech talents to promote hardware and artificial intelligence (AI) application innovations.
The opening ceremony was witnessed by several Taiwanese and American officials, including President Tsai Ing-wen, Premier Chen Chien-jen, New Taipei City Mayor Hou Yu-ih, Vice President-elect Hsiao Bi-khim, Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua, and Sandra Oudkirk, director of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT).
Since establishing its first office in Taiwan in 2006, Google's Taiwan team has grown more than twentyfold, gathering employees from over 30 countries and regions.
Google's Vice President of Hardware, Peng Yu-chun, stated that after careful consideration, the company sees "no issues" with Taiwan's geopolitical situation, hence the continued investment in Taiwan.
Taiwan's engineering R&D team encompasses diverse talent fields, including software, hardware, semiconductor design, product development, and quality control testing. The devices and technologies developed in Taiwan, including the Pixel smartphone series, are gradually increasing.
Tsai Ing-wen noted that the government's "Five Plus Two Industry Innovation Plan" over the past eight years and various infrastructure projects have improved Taiwan's industrial clusters and supply chain resilience amid the pandemic. Last year, foreign investment in Taiwan exceeded $11.2 billion.