I’ve just returned from Computex 2023 in Taipei, Taiwan, and must say I’ve noticed a massive change in mood from the last time I was there exactly four years ago.

Back in 2019, officials and policymakers were keen to impress on the world that Taiwan represented more than just manufacturing in the tech ecosystem. Taiwan was clearly well known for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and computer manufacturing, but the officials wanted to highlight the research, the spinouts and the knowledge-driven economy.

WhenI interviewedthe then minister for the office of science and technology (MOST), Liang-Gee Chen, he told me Taiwan was clearly in a good place to address the new growth in 5G, IoT, autonomous vehicles, healthcare and industrial/smart manufacturing. That’s because the smart connected world that everyone was striving for in all market sectors relied on a data-driven economy and, hence, AI was a special segment for Taiwan to play in because of its capability to provide all kinds of server hardware and help companies create value from that data.

Back then, Chen said, “Manufacturing will still be the driving force behind the new jobs in the industry. Many companies rely on Taiwan within their supply chain, which is already well established for the semiconductor industry. We are trying to leverage this strength in manufacturing and hardware, to encourage new systems applications and fabless startups that address the needs of new applications that require a combination of both hardware and software.”