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Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) will set up a research and development (R&D) center in Taiwan, focusing on advanced technologies like silicon photonics, artificial intelligence (AI), and heterogeneous integration, a Taiwanese official announced on July 27.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs approved AMD's application for the A+ Global R&D and Innovation Partnership Program this month. The ministry has granted a subsidy covering more than 30% of the total NT$8.64 billion (US$263 million) investment, amounting to NT$3.31 billion.

AMD will invest NT$5.33 billion, with 50% of its R&D workforce comprising foreign talent, the ministry said.

Chiou Chyou-huey, director-general of the ministry's Department of Industrial Technology (DOIT), revealed details of the ministry’s negotiations with AMD over the past year on social media.

Chiou mentioned that the DOIT team visited AMD headquarters in Silicon Valley during an APEC meeting in Seattle in 2023. "Just a month before our visit, AMD's market value reached US$170 billion, surpassing Intel and becoming the world's most valuable CPU company and second in AI chips," he wrote.

Following nearly a year of discussions, the investment plan was confirmed after a meeting between AMD CEO Lisa Su and Minister of Economic Affairs Kuo Jyh-huei during Computex Taipei on June 5.

AMD will establish research teams in Taiwan focusing on silicon photonics, AI, and heterogeneous integration, Chiou noted. Both silicon photonics and heterogeneous integration are promising for improving IC efficiency, given the physical limits of traditional silicon chip technology. Because AMD's GPU software is open-source, "we negotiated to create more cooperation opportunities for local companies," Chiou said.

As a result, 33 domestic companies will participate in the research program, "boosting the investment value to NT$15 billion and cultivating over 1,000 AI specialists in Taiwan annually during the three-year program," he explained.

Editor：Lulu

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