Wistron Chairman Lin Hsien-ming Pushes for Taiwan Open Source Foundation to Prevent Marginalization in AI Era

(Central News) - Wistron Corporation Chairman Lin Hsien-ming stated today that to transition Taiwan from "device manufacturing" to a "leading nation in applications," he pledges to support and promote the establishment of a Taiwan Open Source Model Foundation. The goal is to create the largest database for Taiwan, featuring Traditional Chinese and diverse local cultural narratives, to secure Taiwan's rightful position in the future Artificial Intelligence (AI) era and avoid marginalization.

Lin Hsien-ming emphasized that although Wistron continues to invest overseas, its largest base remains in Taiwan, having expanded to areas like Zhubei and Kaohsiung. "We will continue to strive together with everyone," he said.

Lin Hsien-ming was honored with a lifetime achievement award at the Taiwan Venture Capital and Private Equity Association Annual Meeting today. In his acceptance speech, he discussed his AI computing power strategy, recalling his pledge at last year's meeting to donate 1.2 million hours of computing power. He noted that by the first half of this year, nearly all of those 1.2 million hours had been applied for, with startups being the largest users, demonstrating the significant need for computing power among startups to realize their creative ideas.

Recognizing the insufficient computing power, Lin Hsien-ming decided in the first half of this year to add another 1.2 million hours, bringing the total donated computing power to 2.4 million hours, providing external parties, especially startup teams, with opportunities to utilize this computing power.

Lin Hsien-ming pointed out that Taiwan cannot solely focus on device manufacturing but must become a "leading nation in applications." The key lies in promoting the use of computing power. He observed that when using computing power and language models, international models are often employed, but Taiwanese vocabulary and narratives are scarce. "If we do not thoughtfully consider this aspect, we are highly likely to be marginalized in the future era."

Therefore, Lin Hsien-ming has been actively contemplating and promoting the establishment of a Taiwan Open Source Foundation since the end of last year. He stated that contributors to open source can now earn money and have significant motivation. He hopes to make Taiwan's language models a part of the global open source ecosystem, becoming the largest database for Traditional Chinese narratives, and for Taiwan's local and diverse cultures.

Lin Hsien-ming affirmed that Wistron will definitely support Taiwan's first open source foundation. Many engineers within the company have already responded, and he supports employees contributing their skills in their spare time to build a broader application base.

Regarding the venture capital and startup ecosystem, Lin Hsien-ming said that innovation is the path to growth and sustainability. In the current situation of unequal wealth distribution, there is a greater need for the power of startups "emerging from the grassroots" to change the social structure.

Lin Hsien-ming appealed to stop making entrepreneurs "risk their lives to start businesses." The past environment often required entrepreneurs to invest their own money, leading to many young people failing in their first startup, accumulating significant debt, and being unable to recover, thus never daring to start a business again. He suggested that through corporate venture capital or different system designs such as corporate bonds, stock options, and preferred shares, entrepreneurs with innovative DNA but lacking funds can safely enjoy the fruits of their labor. Even if they fail, as long as there are no issues with character or integrity, even a wrong path can be a valuable experience. (Editor: Lin Shu-yuan) 1150707

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