Nvidia's overseas headquarters is expected to be located at a technology park in Taipei, with the city government currently negotiating contract matters concerning the US tech giant's land rights for the new facility. Nvidia executives are also set to discuss follow-up investment plans with the city government soon.
However, as Taiwan continues expanding its AI ecosystem, available land in the northern regions of the country, including Taipei, New Taipei, Taoyuan, and Hsinchu, is insufficient for manufacturing growth. Consequently, southern Taiwan has become the government's key target area for attracting investment.
Shalun emerges as AI development hub
The National Development Council (NDC) held a committee meeting on November 20, 2025, to review progress on the "Southern Taiwan Silicon Valley Promotion Plan" submitted by the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC). This plan, combined with multiple government policies and budgets, is expected to help build a comprehensive AI industry ecosystem in southern Taiwan.
The "Southern Taiwan Silicon Valley Promotion Plan" will focus on Shalun near the Taiwan High Speed Rail Tainan Station. By revitalizing local living functions and promoting smart testing grounds, the AI ecosystem will spread across the southern regions, including Chiayi, Tainan, Kaohsiung, and Pingtung.
Since taking office, President Lai Ching-te has launched the "Five Trusted Industry Sectors Promotion Plan," with the Executive Yuan unveiling AI infrastructure development projects, of which "Southern Taiwan Silicon Valley" is a part. Supported by funding from this initiative, the NSTC has commissioned the National Center for High-performance Computing (NCHC) to establish a high-capacity AI supercomputer in Shalun.
If it succeeds in striking partnerships with leading foreign quantum computing firms, the Shalun site will become Taiwan's first large-scale integrated "quantum+GPU+CPU" hybrid computing facility.
Strategic pillars drive semiconductor corridor
The NDC stated that the promotion plan centers on Shalun in Tainan, integrating science parks and technology industrial zones across Chiayi, Tainan, Kaohsiung, and Pingtung to form the "Semiconductor S Corridor." There are four strategic pillars: augmenting computing power, connecting ecosystems, attracting talent, and showcasing applications. This approach injects AI technology into all industries, driving intelligent transformation across sectors and advancing Taiwan's strong AI R&D capabilities toward full AI system development.
Officials noted that under the strategic pillar of augmenting computing power, companies like Nvidia, AMD, and Foxconn have formed the Super Computing Taiwan Alliance to jointly deploy computing infrastructure supporting AI application development. For connecting ecosystems, the Shalun AI Innovation & Application Building is recruiting tenants, aiming to link the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City to the "Semiconductor S Corridor" to form clusters in AI, robotics, and unmanned vehicles.
Taiwan targets top-five global computing status
President Lai, speaking at the opening of Google's AI Infrastructure Engineering Center in Taiwan on November 20, 2025, emphasized that, facing the global AI wave, the government will leverage Taiwan's strengths to promote the AI infrastructure projects. The goal is to create over NT$15 trillion (US$480 billion) in output value and 500,000 AI jobs by 2040, establishing three international-level AI laboratories and positioning Taiwan among the world's top five computing power centers. This effort supports AI adoption across industries and advances Taiwan as an island of AI.
Lai highlighted Taiwan's strategic location in the Indo-Pacific region, its world-class semiconductor cluster, highly skilled R&D talent, and robust intellectual property system—all factors making Taiwan an ideal base for developing integrated AI hardware and software solutions.
Article edited by Jerry Chen
