US-China tech war: Will Taiwan chip engineers be key to success in the race for tech supremacy?
- CSET estimates that 27,000 wafer fab job vacancies may be created in the US over the next decade, of which some 3,500 would need to be filled by foreign-born workers
- US-educated Taiwanese engineers who trained in local fabs like TSMC have been a major source of know-how for the development of China’s chipmaking industry
The US and China may soon be locked in a recruitment battle for Taiwanese semiconductor talent as the two superpowers accelerate plans to ramp up domestic chip capacity, according to analysts and industry insiders.
For China, the shortage of experienced talent is a major impediment to its goal of achieving self-sufficiency in semiconductors. A semi-official report published last November predicted that China would see a shortfall of 200,000 semiconductor experts by 2023, equal to about one in four positions in the industry not being filled.
The situation has pushed China to aggressively woo engineers from Taiwan, a self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its own. Taipei has responded by threatening to prosecute anyone who helps transfer chip expertise to mainland China.
On the other side of the Pacific, Washington’s initiative to boost semiconductor production on American soil has generated new-found demand for engineers with experience working in wafer foundries.
William Hunt, an analyst at Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET), said the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) for America Act will generate demand for skilled foundry workers that may be hard to find in the US, making it necessary to extend the search to Taiwan and South Korea.
“The United States should explore creating specialised visas for high-skilled workers with significant experience in semiconductor manufacturing and engineering,” Hunt said. “The main priority here is to reduce existing barriers to immigration for workers with skills relevant to US national security.”
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world’s No 1 wafer foundry, is building an advanced 5-nanometre chip fab in Arizona, while in November last year South Korea’s Samsung Electronics unveiled a plan to build an advanced US$17 billion fab in Texas, which would create over 2,000 jobs.
Separately, Pat Gelsinger, the chief executive of US chip giant Intel, has promised the company would build multiple mega-fabs at home if it receives subsidies under the US$52 billion CHIPS act.
