Startup Island TAIWAN Podcast

Step into the high-stakes intersection of heritage and hardware at Viva Tech 2026. This episode dissects how luxury titans like LVMH and L'Oréal are moving beyond mere "Proof of Concepts" (PoCs) into full-scale AI execution. We dive deep into the technical infrastructure of luxury, exploring LVMH's internal MaIA platform , Celine’s CelIA agent , and Louis Vuitton’s strategic use of Digital Twins t...

Welcome to this episode! Today, we dive into the "hundred-year flood" currently hitting the global tech industry: the AI-driven memory supercycle. We explore the pivotal 36 hours in June 2026 when Micron reported record-breaking earnings and Apple took the unprecedented step of hiking prices across its entire hardware lineup without updating any specs. We’ll break down why the traditional memory c...

The commercial space age just went public. SpaceX's $75 billion IPO isn't just a financial record — it's a signal that satellite infrastructure has moved from moonshot to mainstream, and that the companies positioned inside that supply chain are sitting on one of the decade's most durable growth stories. We break down how SpaceX got here: the failed launches, the near-bankruptcy, the engineering b...

In this episode, we sit down with Yusan Lin, founder and CEO of Mirror Mirror AI, to explore how AI is rewriting fashion. She shares how Mirror Mirror AI helps real people license their likeness for AI-generated imagery, while building a more ethical and transparent model marketplace. We also discuss her journey from modeling to AI founder, her a16z Speedrun experience, and why fashion may be ente...

Welcome to SIT Podcast. Just a few hours ago, the eyes of the global tech world turned to the Taipei Music Center, where NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang delivered a GTC Taipei keynote that sent a jolt through the industry. As we speak, the doors of Computex 2026 have yet to officially open — but NVIDIA has already seized the moment, declaring the arrival of a "new era of PC." In this episode, we take a cl...

EP 3-39 | Beyond the Fab: What It Really Takes to Build a Semiconductor Ecosystem ft. Jillian Sun,TCIP Semiconductor Policy Researcher, xMEMS Labs 節目主持人 Uly Su 邀請曾在台灣資本市場深耕九年、後赴史丹佛商學院深造，現於柏克萊大學研究美國 CHIPS Act 政策的 Jillian Sun，從供應鏈結構出發，帶聽眾系統性地理解這個產業的全貌：從上游的 IP 授權、EDA 設計工具、設備製造商，到中游的晶圓代工廠，再到下游封裝測...

In May 2026, OpenAI and Anthropic launched a combined $5.5 billion assault on the $375 billion enterprise consulting market . OpenAI’s $4 billion "DeployCo" targets Fortune-scale giants by directly embedding engineers into client teams, while Anthropic’s $1.5 billion venture focuses on mid-sized companies. Both tech giants realize that great AI models aren't enough—the real competitive advantage a...

NVIDIA GTC has outgrown the label of "tech conference" — it's now the annual convergence point of the entire AI ecosystem, where chips, software, robotics, and autonomous systems share the same floor, with an energy so dense that finding a parking spot takes two hours. In this episode, Silicon Valley-based veteran tech journalist and consultant Michelle Cheng joins host Uly fresh from GTC to give...

This episode dives into Taiwan's Defense Tech Revolution, exploring how a global semiconductor powerhouse is racing to build an asymmetric "Silicon Shield" to deter regional pressures. Faced with an eight-to-one defense budget gap compared to China, Taiwan is pivoting from a traditional weapons buyer to a strategic producer, aiming to deploy 100,000 drones by 2030. We explore the synergy between t...

Physician, entrepreneur, and mentor Felix Oen joins the show to share his insights on the "Golden Age of MedTech" (2022–2032). He breaks down the Biodesign framework—Identify, Innovate, and Implement—emphasizing that engineering brilliance must be validated by clinical science to succeed in the real world. For Taiwanese founders, Felix identifies two "make-or-break" factors for global expansion: p...

This episode examines the most anticipated development in the 2026 global financial markets: the arrival of a massive wave of high-profile, strategically significant IPOs. Following a cautious 2025, stabilizing monetary policies and a renewed appetite for growth equities have encouraged world-leading private companies to revisit their listing timelines. The discussion provides a deep dive into fou...

Charles Huang, the visionary behind the global phenomenon Guitar Hero, shares his transition from a serial Silicon Valley entrepreneur to an elite mentor at UC Berkeley. Charles argues that the ultimate competitive edge for modern founders isn't just technical brilliance, but "Relationship EQ." In this episode, he breaks down the art of navigating the "emotional rollercoaster" of a startup, managi...

In this episode, we dive deep into the massive commercial and geopolitical forces behind the launch of NASA's Artemis II mission. Half a century later, humanity is heading back to the Moon, but this time it's no longer just about "planting a flag"; it's about establishing a lunar outpost and sustainable deep space infrastructure. We analyze how Taiwan is leveraging its globally recognized capabili...

In this episode, we sit down with Volker Heistermann, co-founder of Mosaic Venture Lab, to explore his 30-year journey across the tech landscapes of Silicon Valley, Taiwan, and Germany. Volker breaks down the reality of Silicon Valley’s "inner circle," explaining why international success requires more than just a pitch deck or a round-trip ticket—it demands a "one-way ticket" commitment and deep...

This podcast dives into the groundbreaking announcements from NVIDIA GTC 2026, marking the official dawn of the agentic and physical AI era . We explore CEO Jensen Huang's vision of transitioning from traditional data centers to "AI factories" that manufacture intelligence , converting power into "tokens" as the new economic unit. Key highlights include the staggering projection of $1 trillion in...

Welcome to this audio special on Nvidia GTC 2026 , the company's most anticipated event of the year. As the tech world gathers in San Jose, we tune in to CEO Jensen Huang’s keynote to hear about the next frontier of AI. This year, the conversation shifts from model training to AI inferencing efficiency. We discuss Nvidia’s strategic integration of Groq’s "Language Processing Unit" (LPU) technology...

Dario Amodei, the former head of R&D at OpenAI, left the company in 2021 due to growing concerns over the rapid commercialization and safety of AI technology. Alongside his sister, Daniela Amodei, he co-founded Anthropic, a firm now valued at $183 billion. With the exceptional performance of its Claude models—particularly in coding—Anthropic has emerged as OpenAI's most formidable rival. Amode...

We’re diving straight into the heart of NVIDIA GTC 2026, where Jensen Huang has teased a "world-shocking" chip that marks the definitive dawn of the Rubin era. This isn't just another incremental update; it is a total overhaul of computational logic, moving us from the era of Generative AI into the realm of Physical and Reasoning AI. We will explore how the Vera CPU and HBM4 are teaming up to push...

This episode explores the vision of Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind and recipient of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Hassabis argues that 2026 marks a pivotal turning point in human history, as we enter what he describes as an “AI Renaissance”—an era whose impact could be ten times greater than the Industrial Revolution, unfolding at ten times the speed. He predicts that Artificial Gener...

In today’s episode, we examine the evolving trade arrangement between Taiwan and the United States and what it truly represents beyond the headlines. This is not simply about tariff adjustments or procurement commitments. It reflects a broader shift in the global economic order, where supply chains are increasingly shaped by security considerations rather than pure efficiency. Taiwan’s central rol...

AmCham Taiwan’s 2026 Business Climate Survey offers a structured snapshot of how foreign businesses are balancing growth, risk, and investment decisions in Taiwan. Conducted Nov 18–Dec 21, 2025 with responses from 206 member companies, the survey reports that 82% of respondents are confident about Taiwan’s economic outlook for the next 12 months, and 92% plan to maintain or increase investment thi...

Moltbot(Openclaw) is an open-source, local AI agent that shifts the paradigm from reactive chatbots to proactive digital butlers running on your own hardware. With features like persistent memory stored in local files and full terminal access, it can automate complex tasks—from fixing servers to grocery shopping—and initiate conversations on apps like WhatsApp. However, granting an AI such high-le...

In this episode, we dive into the real forces reshaping the semiconductor world: export controls, licensing regimes, and the race for AI chip supremacy . The industry is undergoing a permanent structural shift where security now commands the budget , and regional fragmentation is the new reality. Join us as we break down why "tariffs move the margins, but geopolitics moves the market" . Whether yo...

In this episode, we invited Tesoro Venture Capital Founder and Managing Partner Andy Lombard to share how he identifies future industry leaders amid the trillion-dollar global race in semiconductors and AI. Developing a new chip often takes close to a decade and requires tens of millions of U.S. dollars in investment. Tesoro approaches this challenge through a model it calls “Codependent Innovatio...

This episode of Deep Dive provides a comprehensive recap of CES 2026, highlighting a pivotal shift in the technology landscape from Generative AI (chatbots) to "Agentic AI" and "Physical AI." The discussion focuses on how AI is moving beyond the screen and cloud into the physical world to become the foundational infrastructure of consumer technology. The hosts explain that this new era is defined...