​From Silicon to Sovereignty: AI Empowerment in the Age of Agents

​For nearly 30 years, UTHF has brought together the engineers, founders, and investors who connect Taiwan and Silicon Valley. This year’s question: as AI moves from a service you call to an agent that acts on your behalf, who owns the intelligence, and who controls what it does?

​The afternoon opens with a keynote from NVIDIA’s Deepu Talla, followed by a fireside chat on sovereign AI with Taiwan’s Deputy Minister of Digital Affairs, a panel on agentic and sovereign AI, open networking, and a closing raffle with a round-trip flight ticket among the prizes.

​Agenda

​12:30 PM · Check-in

​1:00 PM · Opening Remarks
Jenny Lin, NATEA Silicon Valley
Andrea Hsu, NSTC

​1:10 PM · Keynote
The Big Bang of Robotics: Physical AI Meets the Agentic Era
Deepu Talla, NVIDIA

​2:00 PM · Fireside Chat
Sovereignty Without Isolation: How Democratic Partners Can Build Sovereign AI Together
Deputy Minister Isabel Hou, Ministry of Digital Affairs, Taiwan
Moderated by Wesley Chu, Stanford Taiwan Center

​2:45 PM · Break

​3:00 PM · Panel
Who Holds the Keys? Practical Moves in the Age of Agentic and Sovereign AI
Ian Chen, APMIC
Austin Yu, Playground Global
More panelists to be announced
Moderated by Sibyl Chen, Berkeley SkyDeck

​4:00 PM · Closing Remarks

​4:10 PM · Networking + Raffle

​6:00 PM · End

​Tentative agenda, subject to change.

​Confirmed Speakers

​Deepu Talla, Vice President – Robotics and Edge AI, Nvidia (Keynote)
Leads NVIDIA's robotics and edge AI business and has shaped the Isaac, Metropolis, and Jetson platforms over the past decade. Previously ran NVIDIA's mobile unit and the Tegra SoC line. PhD in Computer Engineering, UT Austin.

​Isabel Hou 侯宜秀 Deputy Minister, Ministry of Digital Affairs (MODA), Taiwan
Currently serves as Deputy Minister of Digital Affairs and Spokesperson for the Ministry, overseeing AI governance, international digital cooperation, data governance, and innovative applications. In recent years, she has been dedicated to advancing AI governance grounded in democratic values, inclusivity, and safety, while working to make Taiwan “the country that makes the best use of AI.” Deputy Minister Hou has a professional background in law and has worked at the intersection of law, technology, and public policy since 2000. Before entering government service, she was actively involved in the open-source community and played a key role in establishing the Taiwan AI Academy Foundation, where she later served as Secretary-General.

​Wesley Chu (朱宸佐), Ph.D., Executive Director, Stanford Taiwan Center for Science, Technology and Innovation
Previously served as a Research Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School and held General Counsel positions at Foxconn Technology in Taiwan and Sharp Corporation in Japan. He also serves as Secretary-General of the International AI and Law Research Foundation. With expertise spanning technology, law, industry, and public policy, his work focuses on AI regulation and policy, global supply chains, and international collaboration in science, technology, AI, and advanced manufacturing, bridging academic research, industry innovation, and global partnerships.

​Ian Chen, CMO & US GM, APMIC
The only Taiwanese ISV named by NVIDIA as a generative AI partner, and builder of Taiwan's first sovereign AI model, recognized by Taiwan's Ministry of Digital Affairs. The model scores 100% on Taiwanese culture and values benchmarks at just 24 to 30B parameters. APMIC's CaiGunn model and PrivStation on-premises platform serve more than 1,000 government, finance, manufacturing, and aviation customers.

​Austin Yu, Deep Tech Investor, Playground Global
Invests in next-generation compute and semiconductors at Playground Global, the $1.2B deep tech fund behind PsiQuantum, d-Matrix, MosaicML, and Agility Robotics. Previously at Taiwania Capital and Mesh Ventures.

​Sibyl Chen, General Manager, Berkeley SkyDeck
Over eight years at UC Berkeley’s global accelerator, she has supported more than 2,000 tech ventures and grown its mentor network to nearly 1,000 experts. Former tech leader at Matterport and a multi-time founder.

​More speakers to be announced.