90% of the world’s AI hardware is manufactured in Taiwan; 90% of the world’s most advanced semiconductor chips (they power AI) is made in Taiwan. This gives us a sense of why AI is an industrial priority for Taiwan.

Computex (June 2-5) is Taiwan’s flagship industry trade show. (Begun in 1986, it’s one of the world's oldest and largest computer trade shows.)

Our guest today is technology columnist Tim Culpan. Culpan is the writer of “Culpium”, and a former writer at Bloomberg News where he spent 18 years - first as a technology reporter, then as a tech columnist. He's lived in Taiwan for 25 years and has launched his podcast “Supply Chained”. We discuss the latest developments in Taiwan’s A.I. industry, where Trump and China factor into all of this, and what you can expect to see at this year’s COMPUTEX.

Today’s episode is hosted by Albert Chang-Yoo. 

• Tim Culpan tracks the Taiwanese AI supply chain through his index CASCI (Culpium AI Supply Chain Index). Categories include capacity (construction, manufacturing, e.g. Chroma ATE), upstream (semiconductor production, e.g. TSMC, MediaTek), midstream (power supply systems, modules, e.g. Gigabyte, Delta Electronics), and downstream (assembling servers, e.g. Quanta, Foxconn).
• Taiwan faces a looming energy crisis spurred by A.I. demands. As of 2025, 81.3% of Taiwan’s energy supply is produced from fossil fuels, 12.7% from renewables, and 1.2% from nuclear. (In May 2025, the last operating nuclear plant was decommissioned.) Taiwan also relies on imports for almost 98% of its energy.
• “Jensanity”: Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang broke ground on its new 4-hectare headquarters in Taipei last week. He aims for the 4,000-person campus to be functional by 2030.
• Also last week, AMD’s Lisa Su announced a US$10 billion co-investment into the Taiwanese supply chain. 

You can follow Tim Culpan’s work on Culpium, or by listening to his podcast “Supply Chained”.

EPISODE CREDIT | Producer, Emily Y. Wu @emilyywu | Host, Albert Chang-Yoo | Audio Editing, Wayne Tsai | Research, Zach Chiang, Albert Chang-Yoo

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A Ghost Island Media production | www.ghostisland.media