Taiwan prosecutes semiconductor recruiters accused of illegally poaching talent for Chinese company
- Cryptocurrency mining giant Bitmain is behind two recruitment companies poaching semiconductor talent from Taiwan, according to media reports
- New Taipei district prosecutors office says hi-tech talent is an ‘important issue of national economic policy’
Taiwanese authorities have raided the offices of two companies that allegedly broke the law in poaching local chip talent for a mainland Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) chip maker, accusing the headhunters of undermining the local semiconductor industry.
The raid hit offices of WiseCore Technology and IC Link, recruitment companies that have headhunted hundreds of chip experts over the past three years through a joint venture with a mainland Chinese chip maker, the prosecutors’ office in New Taipei district said on Tuesday.
A total of 19 people were brought in for questioning for allegedly breaching the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area, a law designed to protect the interests of the self-ruled island, including those of its hi-tech industry. The individuals are being questioned for breaking rules that govern mainland investment into Taiwan’s chip industry, which requires permission from Taiwan’s Investment Commission.
The semiconductor industry is now the pillar of Taiwan’s economy, contributing 15 per cent of total GDP in 2020, while it is a weak link in mainland China’s hi-tech supply chain. China’s chipmaking champion, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC), has poached engineering staff from Taiwan over the years, and SMIC’s co-chief executive Liang Mong Song and vice-chairman Chiang Shang-yi are both former executives from Taiwan’s biggest chipmaker TSMC.
“In view of the fact that mainland China is actively attracting Taiwan’s semiconductor talent with high salaries, hi-tech talent and technology protection have become an important issue of national economic policy,” the the Taipei district prosecutor’s office said in its statement, adding that the Ministry of Justice aims to strengthen investigations into relevant cases.