Taiwan universities listed as Nvidia’s collaborators see surge in interest from students

Some Taiwan universities are seeing a spike in enrolment enquiries from parents and students, after Nvidia’s chief executive Jensen Huang credited them as collaborators in a video following his June 2 speech at National Taiwan University.

The tech billionaire who co-founded the semiconductor giant sparked a mania which observers called “Jensanity” during his recent fortnight stay in Taiwan. Not only did the 61-year-old draw huge crowds to his appearances in the city, he also turned a

humble night market stall into household name

after recommending it briefly in his speech.

Now, eight private universities in Taiwan said they are also benefiting from the Jensen Huang effect, after they were mentioned alongside other public universities in a thank you video, which was played at the end of Mr Huang’s June 2 speech on artificial intelligence (AI), reported Taipei Times on June 10.

The private universities listed as Nvidia’s collaborators are Chung Yuan Christian University, I-Shou University, Fu Jen Catholic University, Shih Chien University, Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Tamkang University, Tunghai University and Yuan Ze University.

The public universities in the list are National Taiwan University, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, National Taiwan Normal University, National Tsing Hua University, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, National Central University, National Cheng Kung University National Sun Yat-sen University and National Taipei University of Technology.

Tunghai University’s president Chang Kuo-en told Taipei Times that the number of search queries for his school has more than doubled based on Google Trends.

He added that some of the school’s Facebook posts have been seen by more than 10,000 people and the number of clicks on its website has quadrupled its usual number.

He said his university will fully support the Taichung City government if it plans to get Nvidia to build an AI research and development centre in the city.

The Taipei Times also reported that Tamkang University in New Taipei City has received numerous enquiries from students and their parents.

Mr Huang co-founded Nvidia with two friends in 1993.

On June 5, the company, which makes and sells advanced semiconductor chips and graphic processors,

breached the US$3 trillion (S$4.06 trillion) mark in market value,

becoming the world’s second-most valuable company behind Microsoft.