Taiwan’s AI Moment: Chips, Compute, and the Global South
Speaker
Chair
Taiwan occupies a critical node in the global AI economy, producing many of the advanced semiconductors and processors that underpin the current AI boom. But as governments race to build domestic AI infrastructure and diversify technology supply chains, Taiwan’s role is becoming increasingly global. How can Taiwan translate its semiconductor leadership into broader international influence? What role can Taiwanese firms play in the development of AI infrastructure across emerging markets? And how will intensifying U.S.–China competition shape Taiwan’s technological partnerships with the Global South? Former Legislative Yuan member Jason Hsu, now a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute, will discuss Taiwan’s place in the global AI ecosystem and how Taipei can leverage its technological strengths to expand its international space.
Meet the Speakers
Jason Hsu is a senior fellow at Hudson Institute, where he focuses on the United States’ technological cooperation with allies and partners, and a non-resident senior fellow at School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) Johns Hopkins University.
From 2016 to 2020, Mr. Hsu served as legislator-at-large in Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan (the national parliament) where he focused on defense, technology, trade, and foreign policy. Previously, he was an Edward Mason Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He was also a visiting scholar at the Paul Tsai China Center at Yale Law School where he led a research team in designing a war game on a Taiwan Strait blockade contingency. In March 2026, Mr. Hsu testified in front of U.S. Congress on IndoPacific Security and subsea cable sabotage.
Mr. Hsu has lectured widely at colleges and universities and writes and comments regularly on major media outlets including Wall Street Journal, NYTimes, BBC, CNN, Bloomberg, National Interest, The Hill and etc.
Mr. Hsu was a recipient of the Eisenhower Fellowship in 2022 and was a Draper Hills Summer Fellow at Stanford University’s Center for Democracy Development and Rule of Law. He was a fellow of the US State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program in 2019.Mr. Hsu is also selected as Hoover International Scholar in 2026.
Mr. Hsu received an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a BA from National Chengchi University.
Dr. John Minnich is an Assistant Professor in the Department of International Relations at LSE. His research focuses on the political economy of China’s technological rise and its impact on US-China relations.
His current book project looks at how domestic institutions and global production networks shaped China’s use of foreign technology transfer policies in the post-Cold War period. Other ongoing research projects examine the origins and implications of the US-China "Chip War," the durability of weaponised interdependence, and the evolution of Chinese industrial and technology policies.
John received his PhD from MIT. Prior to joining LSE, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Columbia-Harvard China and the World Program at Columbia University and Research Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Centre for the Study of Contemporary China.
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