ANKARA

Google on Thursday launched an artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure engineering center in Taiwan, its largest AI hardware hub outside the US, according to an official statement by the company.

The new multidisciplinary facility will house hundreds of employees focused on designing, testing, and accelerating hardware innovations that support Google’s global AI development, said Google.

The opening ceremony held in Taipei was also attended by Taiwanese leader William Lai Ching-te.

"The opening of this new R&D (research and development) center in Taiwan highlights our growing role in global AI development, and we will keep leveraging our strengths to help build secure & trustworthy AI," Lai said on the US social media company X.

According to Google, technology created in Taipei will be deployed across its data centers and AI infrastructure worldwide, while powering services such as Search, YouTube to the latest innovations powered by Gemini.

"This builds on Google’s existing presence in Taiwan, which is a unique setting that connects the critical elements for building AI infrastructure, from design and engineering to manufacturing and deployment," it said in the statement.

The company already operates its first data center in Taiwan.