China’s semiconductor industry faces a growing talent shortage as Beijing aims for global dominance in chip manufacture

Pool of qualified engineers, scientists ‘too small to support industry as China strives for global supremacy, self-sufficiency in chip design and manufacture’

Shortfall doubled in 2019 to about 300,000 from 150,000 in 2015, according to a report published this year by Peking University

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The problem for China is that the its talent pool is not keeping pace with its ambitions in the field of semiconductors. Photo: SFP

Published: 11:45pm, 18 Oct 2021Updated: 2:35am, 19 Oct 2021

China faces a chronic shortage of scientific and engineering talent that may hamper its efforts to become a semiconductor superpower and reduce its reliance on imported chips, according to industry figures.

The problem is becoming more acute as the fledgling industry evolves amid a dearth of qualified senior professionals, they said.

“If innovation is driven by technology, people are the key to advancing technology development,” said Zhang Wei, dean of the microelectronics school at Fudan University at a recent integrated circuit summit in the Chinese city of Nanjing, a semiconductor base. “Their levels will determine our strength.”

The problem for China is that the country’s talent pool is not keeping pace with its ambition.

The shortfall of talent in the country’s semiconductor industry doubled in 2019 to about 300,000 from 150,000 in 2015, according to a report published this year by the China Institute for Educational Finance Research at Peking University.

While the problem is not unique to China, it could be increasingly detrimental to the country’s quest to gain self-sufficiency in its fledgling semiconductor industry to fend off supply chain risks.

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