by Brian Hioe

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Photo Credit: Coolcaesar/WikiCommons/CC BY-SA 4.0

CLAIMS BY PAN-BLUE lawmakers that Nvidia sought to purchase 10 terawatt-hours of green energy for its first Asian research center and Taipei-1 supercomputer bring together several thematics in efforts by the pan-Blue camp to sow doubt in the Lai administration. Such allegations were made by TPP legislator Chang Chi-kai, who alleged that these requests were made by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang of Minister of Economic Affairs JW Kuo.

In recent times, Huang has come to command a great amount of public attention in Taiwan, pledging that American tech giant Nvidia would commit to the construction of new facilities in Taiwan. Huang, who was born in Taiwan but educated in the US, neatly fits the profile of Taiwanese who return to Taiwan after establishing themselves abroad in order to benefit their mother country. This is not too unlike how Morris Chang of TSMC fame returned to Taiwan to take up leadership of TSMC after a successful career at Texas Instruments in the US.

To this extent, Nvidia promising substantial investment projects in Taiwan was seen as a show of faith in Taiwan during a period in which various captains of industry have sometimes cast doubt on the wisdom of investing in Taiwan, given the geopolitical threat that Taiwan faces from China. Warren Buffett, for example, divesting himself of investments in TSMC. Likewise, Intel suggested that it was hazardous to invest in Taiwan, costing it a hefty discount on a deal with TSMC.

Huang’s much-publicized visit was, in fact, likely aimed at drumming up publicity. And it would not surprise if this was indeed with the aim of hoping to secure favorable conditions from the government with regard to investment projects in Taiwan.

Photo credit: Presidential Office/Flickr/CC BY 2.0

But the pan-Blue camp seeking to cast doubt on Nvidia can be situated as part of its efforts to denigrate moments of national pride in past years, so as to tarnish DPP presidential administrations. This can be observed with anything ranging from Taiwan’s domestic submarine program to Taiwan’s successes in fighting off COVID-19. With regards to Taiwan’s tech industry, the pan-Blue camp has sought to frame new fabs built by TSMC overseas in the US and Japan as not representing the successful expansion of Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturing, but as a means by which Taiwan’s semiconductor prowess will be stolen away by other countries. Figures of national pride, such as Huang, may themselves be targeted.

Likewise, one notes that the KMT has increasingly also sought to cast doubt on green energy in Taiwan. The KMT has sought to frame green energy as newfangled and unreliable in the face of traditional forms of energy, such as nuclear power. The KMT has, in this sense, alleged that the DPP is only interested in green energy because of the investments of DPP politicians in green energy companies. This may be leveraging on the KMT having an older party base that is less familiar with renewable, green energy, and which is not aware of rising international concern regarding climate change.

JW Kuo, as Minister of Economic Affairs, has been a particular target of ire. In October, Kuo came under fire earlier for a proposal that Taiwan solve its issues with power shortages by purchasing power from neighboring countries, such as Australia, the Philippines, or Singapore, and transporting the power to Taiwan by boat or undersea cable.

The proposal has been criticized on a bipartisan basis as unrealistic, given the distance and cost involved. DPP legislator Lin Tai-hua pointed out that it has cost 16 billion NT to construct submarine cables between the Taiwanese mainland and Penghu and it took 13 years to do so. In this sense, Kuo was criticized for speaking about a plan that was half-baked and in which there had been little evaluation, particularly given the challenges of constructing such cables on the sea floor of the Bashi Channel, though Kuo cited the example of Singapore buying power from Australia.

After such comments by Kuo, the pan-Blue camp demanded that he resign. It is to be expected that Kuo will be framed as a particular figure guilty of wrongdoing.

It can be expected that the pan-Blue camp will continue to target the industrial policy of the DPP going forward. This may be one example.
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