Chinese IC designers and manufacturers need experts. The pressure that the US and its allies are putting on the Chinese semiconductor industry through the deployment of sanctions has forced the Xi Jinping Administration to dedicate a portion of its resources to this sector. Otherwise the development of its chip industry would certainly be compromised. And this Asian country cannot afford it.
In China there are several well-known university centers that offer very solid training in the field of physics, electrical engineering, electronics or mechanical engineering. Tsinghua University, in Beijing; Fudan University, in Shanghai; Zhejiang University, Hangzhou; the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei and the University of Electronic Technology of China in Chengdu are some of the most prestigious institutions.
There is no doubt that Chinese semiconductor companies need engineers and graduates with solid training, but in the current situation the employees who add the most value are those who have proven experience in the chip industry. And in this area Taiwan is in all probability the best quarry on the planet. And TSMC is the company that has some of the best experts in cutting-edge integrated circuits in the entire industry on its payroll.
Huawei plays it safe by trying to recruit TSMC employees
Despite their decades-long conflict, China and Taiwan have a common past. And, therefore, also a similar work culture. The French newspaper Le Monde claims that Huawei is trying to attract TSMC employees by offering them a salary three times higher than what they receive at the Taiwanese company. Nothing seems crazy at all beyond the fact that these practices are legal or not, and in principle they are.
Hiring experts who provide their services in competing companies may involve the infringement of patents and trade secrets.
Any professional is free to carry out his activity in the company that offers him a higher financial remuneration, or, simply, where he can better develop his career. However, hiring experts who provide their services to competing companies may involve infringement of patents and trade secrets. In fact, there is no doubt that Huawei, SMIC and other Chinese chipmakers would benefit from access to TSMC’s intellectual property.
This is the crux of the matter, and, as we can guess, TSMC knows how to protect itself. One of their measures is to compartmentalize their projects so that no one employee has access to all the sensitive information. In addition, Taiwan’s Justice Investigation Bureau scrupulously monitors all foreign companies interested in recruiting local talent in the semiconductor field. And there is something else that we should not overlook. When an employee leaves a Taiwanese or American company to go to a Chinese company, it is very unlikely that they will be able to return to their original job.
Imagen | TSMC
More information | Le Monde
In WorldOfSoftware | TSMC is under suspicion: the US Government is investigating whether it has agreed to secret agreements with Huawei
