Today we had a late start to our day. Most of my peers used the free time to explore Taipei but I was still feeling pretty jet lagged so I used the time to sleep in a bit. I did, however, explore the convenience stores to look for breakfast. I got a salmon roe onigiri, two tea eggs, and a coffee. Very yummy!
In the afternoon, we got on the coach bus and headed to COMPUTEX Taipei, one of the largest computer and technology expos in the world. Honestly, I’m not big on tech and I would never go out of my way to go to an expo like this so I was really excited. Once we checked in, we entered the giant warehouse-like room full of hundreds of different companies promoting their products and projects. We met with Liam Quinn, the marketing coordinator for enterprise products at GIGABYTE Technology who guided us to their exhibition stand where we spent most of our time. He guided us through the huge stand, and showed us several different types of servers and I was a bit overwhelmed trying to understand all the technological jargon he was throwing around. He talked about the advancement of AI and the need for better ways to cool servers, which was something I’ve heard about online as discussions around the ethics of using AI in daily life due to the immense energy it requires.
One thing that stood out to me was the fact that GIGABYTE started by selling motherboards for computers, a much simpler product in comparison to large servers. I think this kind of exponential growth is representative of Taiwan’s ability to innovate and adapt at an impressive rate.
After we got the run through on GIGABYTE and what they do, we had some free time to explore the expo. April, Amma, and I went to an area that was more palatable to the average consumer. Complex gaming systems, intricately built PCs, robots, keyboards, and high resolution monitors were everywhere! One stand gave us free food and drinks under the condition that we commented on their recent LinkedIN post with a picture of their set up. There were so many cool gadgets and gizmos, some of which I wouldn’t have imagined as a necessary product.
This day happened to be a day when the public is allowed to enter the expo so most of the hundreds (maybe thousands?) of people at the convention were average people without any expert experience with technology. It was eyeopening to see how so many Taiwanese people are interested in technology and it confirmed to me that Taiwan is truly at the forefront of science.