China Needs 250,000 IC Engineers in Next Six
Years
According to a recent survey, China is suffering from
a severe shortage of integrated circuit designers and
engineers for chip manufacture. This is a current weakness
for China's new and growing chip industry. In 2002, there
were only 12,000 IC engineers in China.
China's new chip fabs, such as SMIC, have attracted considerable
attention, particularly in the US. Recently, the US government
has filed a complaint, stating that the Chinese government
favors Chinese companies, at the expense of non-Chinese
companies by offering tax rebates to domestic Chinese
manufacturers. The Chinese government has identified chip
manufacture as a key industry for the country, which makes
financial and tax incentives available to investors. Other
leading individuals, such as Craig Barret, Intel CEO,
have expressed discomfort as an American citizen, at the
large number of IT jobs going to China, and the US's shrinking
technology lead.
Taiwan's leading chip fab, TSMC, has also taken
legal action against SMIC regarding intellectual property.
The reported shortage of IC engineers in China, underlines
that the chip fab business is comparatively new, and currently
serves foreign buyers, just as Taiwan's fab industry does.
In comparison, China's domestic IC needs are relatively
undeveloped and untapped.
Compared to China, Taiwan has a very well developed IC
manufacturing industry. The most developed companies,
such as TSMC and United Microelectronics, have large numbers
of IC engineers and designers, who often take a very "hands-on"
approach when serving small design houses with limited
design resources.
While China is severely short of talent, large numbers
of IC engineers and designers are now relocating from
Taiwan because of the political
turmoil following Taiwan's presidential election in
March. A significant number of ethnic Chinese IC engineers
in the US are also relocating to China to fill the current
demand.
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