Google Inc. is doubling its Taiwan data center investment to US$600 million, making it the U.S.-based firm’s biggest facility in Asia, according to the ROC Ministry of Economic Affairs Dec. 11.
“Google choosing Taiwan as the location for its biggest cloud computing center in Asia is a milestone for the nation’s cloud computing industry,” Deputy MOEA Minister Liang Kuo-hsin said at the inauguration ceremony of the Changhua County-based facility.
According to Liang, Taiwan’s information and communications technology industry already produces all the necessary hardware for cloud computing centers, such as servers, storage and energy-saving technology. Coupled with strong government support for the industry and its plan to turn Taiwan into an Asia-Pacific cloud computing hub, the nation is an ideal base for such centers.
The center uses the latest energy-saving technology, and Google’s Taiwan partners have outstanding ability and exceptional quality, Joe Kava, Google’s vice president of data centers, said. The nation’s industrial ecosystem is amazing, and Google hopes its cooperation with its Taiwan counterparts will continue in future data center projects in other parts of the world, he added.
The MOEA said Google is a long-standing strategic partner of the nation’s ICT industry with close ties to major domestic firms, and has also made important contributions to the development of domestic talent and technology.
In November this year, the MOEA presented the search giant with prizes in the software integration partner and versatile innovation partner categories at the 2013 Outstanding Electronics and Information International Partner Firm Awards.
Google’s investment in this data center will stimulate development of Taiwan’s local cloud computing production chain, and the firm’s close cooperation with local firms will boost R&D investment in the sector and help create localized solutions to software and hardware problems, Liang said.
Google’s managing director of Greater China, Scott Beaumont, and Google Taiwan General Manager Chien Lee-feng also attended the ceremony. (SDH)
Write to Taiwan Today at ttonline@mofa.gov.tw