Microsoft sets up new research center in Taiwan

TAIPEI, TAIWAN: Global software giant Microsoft announced the opening of joint cloud computing center with Taiwan's economics ministry on Thursday at the Computex electronics show.

The center would combine its research and development (R&D) expertise and technology leadership in software, services and cloud computing data center technology with Taiwan's strength in hardware innovation.

It also announced that it has planned to work with two local companies on new designs for servers meant specifically for cloud computing.

The opening of the center was a "milestone... in the era of cloud computing", said Steven Guggenheimer, a Microsoft vice president, at Computex Taipei, Asia's largest IT trade fair.

As per media reports, the company says it plans to spend $9.5 billion in research and development projects in 2010, a considerable portion of which will go to cloud-computing technologies.