By KHT Staff. AI-regenerated image with Chinese characters in the original image translated to English.
KAOHSIUNG — Democratic Progressive Party mayoral candidate Lai Jui-lung (賴瑞隆) urged international artificial intelligence companies to invest in Kaohsiung on Oct. 12, arguing that the city offers a faster alternative to redeveloping Taipei’s Songshan Airport (松山機場).
Responding to Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an’s (蔣萬安) proposal to shift Songshan’s flights to Taoyuan International Airport and create an AI industry park in its place, Lai said relocation and construction would take at least 10 years. AI companies could not afford that wait, he said, according to the China Times.
In his Oct. 8 announcement, Taipei Mayor Chiang cited Taoyuan’s planned third terminal and third runway as providing capacity to absorb Songshan’s traffic. This isn’t the first time the idea of removing Taipei’s downtown airport has been floated. Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), during his tenure as Taipei mayor in the mid-1990s, reportedly advocated moving the airport to Tamsui or Bali and ordered a relocation study group. Chen Shui-bian may not have been the first to make such a suggestion, and his idea called for turning Songshan Airport into a park, not an industrial park.
Lai pointed to the approximately 590-hectare Asia New Bay Area (亞洲新灣區), citing its proximity to Kaohsiung Port (高雄港) and Kaohsiung International Airport (高雄國際機場) as advantages for computing facilities, research centers and corporate offices.
The 590 hectares describes the wider planning area, rather than a single vacant site available for immediate development. The city’s Urban Development Bureau has documented numerous existing and ongoing projects within it.
Lai also cited the former 205th Arsenal (第205兵工廠) site, covering about 58 hectares. Although the arsenal has relocated, remediation and development still need to be accelerated, he said in a separate report by Knews.
On electricity, Lai said Kaohsiung’s three power plants give it a generation-to-consumption ratio of 134%, compared with 2% in Taipei. He presented those figures as an advantage for energy-intensive AI computing operations. The figures were not accompanied by a reference year or supporting calculation in the China Times report.
Lai also cited a centrally approved NT$13.2 billion talent-development plan, involving National Tsing Hua University (國立清華大學), National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (國立陽明交通大學), National Sun Yat-sen University (國立中山大學) and National University of Kaohsiung (國立高雄大學).
He invited Nvidia and AMD to invest and called for central government resources to support an AI industry zone in Kaohsiung. The remarks were an investment pitch, rather than an announcement of commitments from either company.
Separately, Lai said former President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) had been invited to the opening of his campaign headquarters in Fongshan District (鳳山區) on Saturday, Oct. 17.
