Synopsys has signed a letter-of-intent (LOI) with a Taiwan government-run research lab to form a strategic partnership to help the country develop an artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystem.

Taiwan government is taking a major step towards AI development, defining 2017 as the first year of AI in Taiwan. The Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) is going to budget over NT$10 billion (US$333.14 million) to support AI industry development in Taiwan.

It is enlisting the help from various entities, such as Synopsys, which signed the LOI on October 24 with the National Applied Research Laboratories (NARLabs) under MOST.

"As AI has become an important and overwhelming trend around the world, the Ministry of Science and Technology has selected AI to be the next key technology for development in Taiwan. In the next five years, a total investment of NT$16 billion in AI hardware, software, key technologies, and related applications is expected to be available for us to step by step develop an ecosystem for AI innovation in Taiwan," said science and technology minister Chen Liang-gee. "On the other hand, relevant platform and service development as required by local technology R&D is an important mission of our NARLabs, whose Chip Implementation Center, Nano Device Laboratories, and National Center for High-performance Computing also assume an important role in the Ministry of Science and Technology's AI program to step by step establish relevant R&D platforms and services that will assist academia and research communities in R&D for AI innovation."

"The development of our AI research is based on 'a grand strategy for a small country' strategy, and to develop the AI innovation ecosystem with talents, technologies, and relevant fields as well as industries integrated," Chen emphasized in his speech at the signing ceremony. "The signing between NARLabs and Synopsys is part of the Semiconductor Moonshoot Project and AI Innovation Research Center of our ministry's five major AI strategies, and we will actively engage ourselves in cultivating top talents for semiconductor manufacturing and IC design, so that high-caliber professionals needed by the semiconductor industry when entering the era of AI would be readily available."

The LOI was signed by Wang Yeong-her, president of NARLabs, and Aart de Geus, chairman and co-CEO of Synopsys.

Synopsys has been contributing significantly to the cultivation of semiconductor and chip design talents for Taiwan in addition to its long-term partnership with NARLabs' Chip Implementation Center. The LOI covers AI system-on-chip (SoC) design platform, AI algorithm and engine development, as well as many key technologies such as AI cloud computing and SoC modeling. The cooperation is expected to lay a solid foundation for the development of AI, related emerging industries, as well as applications in Taiwan.

"NARLabs maintains long-term cooperation with Synopsys and benefits from the latter's chip design service, and the letter-of-intent inked this time once again highlights even tighter cooperation between the two in the area of AI," said Wang. "NARLabs' Chip Implementation Center, Nano Device Laboratories, and National Center for High-performance Computing are participants in major AI projects conducted by MOST and will provide the R&D platforms and key services required by academia and research communities for their research on AI chips and innovative applications."

Synopsys's chairman de Geus said, "We've seen a successful cooperation model among government, research institution and entrepreneur in Taiwan by establishing Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) to fulfill the model some thirty years ago. Today Taiwan takes leadership in semiconductor manufacturing and IC design. And the successful development of semiconductor industry requires teamwork from government, research institution and entrepreneur. Synopsys will work closely with the National Applied Research Laboratories on AI research and development. And assist Taiwan semiconductor industry to further its leadership."

"Nowadays the two major drivers of the IC design industry are AI and automotive electronics. The AI industry output value is expected to reach US$38.6 billion and the industry output value of automotive electronics is expected to reach US$58.4 billion by 2025," said Robert Li, country manager of Synopsys Taiwan. "The two powerful drivers have prompted tech heavyweights around the world to adjust their R&D directions, while the influences brought in by AI development and AI applications are also going to change the market status quo and flip the lifestyles that we are familiar with."

"As the market of PC-, cellphone-, and TV-related semiconductor applications is on a downtrend, the government policy to develop an ecosystem for AI innovation encourages the Taiwan SoC design industry to grab the opportunities of rapid technology changes and industry structure adjustments," stressed Li, "Therefore, we are honored of the strategic alliance with NARLabs. The alliance will continue strengthening our strategic partnership with the Taiwan semiconductor industry. We want to bring in AI-related innovative technologies to help our Taiwan partners resolve their R&D bottlenecks, enhance AI SoC design effectiveness, and speed up time-to-market, so that Taiwan would be able to have a head start in the global market of AI applications."