Lee-Feng Chien
Former Managing Director, Google Taiwan
About
Lee-Feng Chien (簡立峰) served as the inaugural Managing Director of Google Taiwan from 2006 to 2020, growing the office from one employee to over 3,000 and establishing it as one of Google's largest R&D centers globally. He earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science from National Taiwan University in 1991 and previously held positions as Research Fellow and Deputy Director at Academia Sinica's Institute of Information Science, with a joint professorship at NTU. A pioneer in Chinese information retrieval and natural language processing, he has published over 100 papers in top-tier conferences. Since retiring from Google, he has become a leading voice on AI strategy in Taiwan, serving on the boards of AI companies Appier and iKala and mentoring the startup ecosystem.
Key Contributions
- Built Google Taiwan from its first employee to a 3,000-person R&D center
- Pioneered Chinese search and natural language processing research with 100+ publications
- Shaped Taiwan's AI strategy discourse as advisor to startups and government
- Board director at AI unicorn Appier and iKala after retiring from Google
- Former Research Fellow and Deputy Director at Academia Sinica's Institute of Information Science
