Taiwan's AI boom has vindicated Kaohsiung mayor Chen Chi-mai's 2018 push to make the city an AI hub — good for his re-election case, bad for the opposition that mocked the idea.

• Chen ran in 2018 on turning Kaohsiung into an AI city and helping old factories modernize, after meeting researchers and AI industry people.
• The KMT's think tank ridiculed the plan, asking what AI would do for the local economy and saying ordinary people just want jobs.
• Online commenters piled on too, arguing Taiwan was too far behind the US, China and Germany to build anything but data centers.
• Taiwan then rode the AI wave to the fastest growth among developed economies, though Hsinchu and Taoyuan captured most of the supply chain gains.
• Kaohsiung lost two years before Chen took office, and supporters say the city would be further ahead without that delay.

Outlook: The AI record is becoming a central argument in the coming Kaohsiung mayoral race.