Taiwan Plans All-Photonics Network in South as AI, Smart City Testbed

Taiwan’s National Science and Technology Council plans to build an All-Photonics Network (APN) in southern Taiwan, linking AI computing resources in the north and south of the island with those in Japan through high-capacity, low-latency and energy-efficient data transmission. The infrastructure supports the government’s “AI Island” policy and will enable inference applications including smart cities, healthcare and real-time image analysis.

The newly released 52nd issue of the GovTech Monthly said the council would make southern Taiwan a demonstration site for the All-Photonics Network, AI and smart-city applications while advancing interregional computing connectivity. However, as of the publication of the related reports, the council had not disclosed the project’s cost, formal launch date or completion schedule, and a detailed plan had yet to be presented.