The Kaohsiung City Government yesterday announced the formation of the 5G AIoT (artificial intelligence of things) International Alliance, which comprises the city government, some central government bodies, technology companies and telecoms.

The alliance seeks to build Taiwan’s most comprehensive 5G and AIoT testing and demonstration fields in the harbor city’s “Asia New Bay Area” (亞洲新灣區), the city government said.

“Kaohsiung is ready,” Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said at an inauguration ceremony.

Crediting the government for accelerating the rate of 5G adaptation, Chen described the creation of a 5G AIoT industry in Taiwan as a “race against time.”

“Thanks to the full support of the president and the premier, Kaohsiung is prepared to take a leadership role in Taiwan’s digital transition,” he said.

At the ceremony, the city government also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Taiwan Life Insurance Co (台灣人壽) to create a new 5G AIoT Asia-Taiwan Startup Hub, to be located in the nearly completed Taiwan Life Insurance building in the city’s Cianjhen District (前鎮).

“We want the hub to be a place where established businesses can work with start-ups to create accelerated growth,” the city government said in a press release.

Microsoft Taiwan, Cisco Taiwan and Amazon AWS are among the 300 domestic and international tech companies participating in the alliance, alongside telecoms Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), Far EasTone Telecommunications Co Ltd (遠傳電信) and Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大), the city government said.

Cisco managing director of greater China and Taiwan general manager George Chen (陳志惟) promised to bring “the most advanced” technology to Kaohsiung so that the new industry can develop.

“We will be working with local systems integrators and telecoms to create a Kaohsiung-based end-to-end ecosystem,” George Chen said at the ceremony.

Ethan Tu (杜奕瑾), the founder of Professional Technology Temple (PTT) and Taiwan AI Labs (台灣人工智慧實驗室), said the trend of decentralization in the wake of COVID-19 is positive for Kaohsiung’s bid to establish a 5G AIoT industry.

“There is already a lot of talent in the south of Taiwan, and many American engineers are coming to work in Taiwan due to COVID-19,” Tu said. “If we have the 5G AIoT industry in Kaohsiung, we’ll be able to attract more top talent.”