Alliance formed to make Taiwan's Aerotroplis Project

A business alliance coordinated by telecom service provider Chunghwa Telecom was formed recently with the aim of creating an “intelligent” supply chain for the Taoyuan Aerotroplis project which is being pushed by Taiwan's government.

The alliance has over 70 members including information-technology manufacturers HTC Corp., Inventec Corp., Tatung Corp., Delta Electronic Inc., and D-Link Corp.; air carriers China Airlines and EVA Airways; banks Mega International Commercial Bank, Cathay United Bank, and E Sun Bank; and system-integration providers SYSTEX Corp., HwaCom Systems Inc., and Trade-Van Information Services Co.

When the “intelligent” project is completed, visitors to the Aerotroplis will be able to comfortably deal with dining, accommodation, transportation, shopping, entertainment, and education, with NFC (near field communications-enabled)-enabled cards.

The founding meeting of the alliance was attended by Premier Y.H. Jiang, Minister of Transportation and Communications K.S. Yeh, and Minister of the Interior H.Y. Lee.

Jiang said the Aerotroplis project is the most important government construction program since the Ten Major Construction Projects of the 1960s and '70s, which laid the foundation for nearly three decades of rapid economic development in Taiwan.

The premier said that the government will invest NT$500 billion (US$16.6 billion) in the project, which will create at least NT$2.3 billion worth of business opportunities by driving the transformation of industries in Taoyuan and adjacent areas.

According to Chungwa chairman and CEO Y.S. Lee, the alliance will build an ecosystem with an integrated flow of personnel, goods, cash, and information, and will establish application services for intelligent networks, intelligent buildings, green energy, e-commerce, intelligent transportation, e-tailing, 4D digital city, intelligent medicare, e-learning, and intelligent operations center.

Lee said that his company will build a high-speed optical-fiber broadband network, 4G network, and cloud computing center at the Aerotropolis, which will be developed around Taoyuan International Airport. He declined to say how much his company will invest in the project, noting only that it has a five-year investment plan and that it hopes to export the relevant turnkey technologies.

Chunghwa Telecom also plans to construct an intelligent green building featuring energy conservation and eco-friendliness as a demonstration of its cutting-edge technologies. (KL)