AI Asia Pacific Institute’s Board Director, Luis F. Gonzalez, took part in the Taiwan AI Nexus event. He joined technology and industry leaders to discuss global AI trends, industrial deployment and Taiwan’s evolving role in the international AI ecosystem.
Luis delivered a keynote address on “Global AI Competition Trends and Industrial Deployment Strategies,” focusing on how economies and organisations can translate AI capabilities into real-world industrial impact. He highlighted Taiwan’s established strengths in semiconductors, ICT, manufacturing and applied engineering. He argued that Taiwan’s next opportunity is to become a global provider of trusted industrial intelligence by building on these foundations.
A key theme of his presentation was the next phase of AI competition extending beyond models themselves. Competitive advantage will increasingly depend on the wider systems that enable AI to operate safely, securely, reliably and affordably in real-world environments. For industries such as manufacturing, energy, logistics and critical infrastructure, Luis stressed that AI should ultimately be judged by tangible outcomes. These include improved productivity, safety, quality, uptime and resilience.
Luis also emphasised the importance of moving beyond isolated pilots towards scalable industrial deployment. Successful AI initiatives should have a credible pathway from experimentation to products, plant- or fleet-level deployment and repeatable platforms. Real-world testbeds can support this transition by generating evidence, standards, skills and commercial reference cases under real world operating conditions.
Following the keynote, Luis joined a panel discussion on “Taiwan’s Opportunities and Challenges in the Global AI Landscape.” Moderated by Stephen Su, Senior Vice President at the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), the panel also featured Kai-Lung Hua, Chief Technology Officer at Microsoft Taiwan, and Phillip Seiji Vincent, CEO of Plug and Play APAC and Plug and Play Japan.
The discussion examined Taiwan’s strategic position in the global AI ecosystem, including opportunities to deepen international partnerships, strengthen cross-sector collaboration and accelerate AI innovation across industries. Luis highlighted the importance of collaboration between government, industry, research institutions and international partners in building the infrastructure, skills, standards and trusted frameworks required for AI deployment at scale.
As Luis noted in his closing remarks, Taiwan has an opportunity to help shape the next era of AI not only by powering global computation, but by helping industries become safer, more productive, resilient and sustainable.
