Taipei, March 21 (CNA) Google launched a "Smart Taiwan" initiative Wednesday that will see the multinational tech giant working with Taiwanese government agencies, schools and businesses to foster over 5,000 individuals trained in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) and over 50,000 in digital marketing.

According to Simon Kahn, Google's Asia-Pacific chief marketing officer, Taiwan has become Google's largest research and development base in Asia, which is why the company is focusing more resources on cultivating new talent in the country.

The training will take place in the span of a year, Google said.

With its goal of "AI first" in mind, Google is recruiting over 300 employees for its Taiwan branch this year, with over 100 different types of jobs.

The positions will include AI engineers and even nurses in order to take care of the health of the increasingly growing number of employees, now at 2,000, at Google Taiwan.

Google intends to help Taiwan become even more competitive in the tech sector by undergoing a "digital transformation," Kahn said.

For its part, Taiwan's government is happy to cooperate with Google, Vice President Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) said.

Taiwan is grateful for Google's investment, which will allow the international community to see all that Taiwan can contribute in the field of technology and AI, he continued.

Microsoft, which recently opened an AI research and development hub in Taiwan, is also recruiting Taiwanese AI talent, with 30 AI-related openings at its hub this year. 

(By Jeffrey Wu and Kuan-lin Liu)
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