China set to challenge global chipmakers with huge state-led project

TOKYO, Nov. 04, 2015 – 

China's push is posing a challenge to the existing dominance by global chipmakers in the U.S., Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, triggering yet another wave of industry realignment.

     Increasingly, China is seeking to recruit engineers from Japan. A retired Japanese engineer in his 60s was recently asked by headhunters and others if he was interested in working in China. The man, who lives in Kanagawa Prefecture south of Tokyo, was once responsible for production technology at Japan's now-defunct Elpida Memory.

     Similarly, a science and engineering professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology said he has noticed that Chinese students at the university have increasingly been courted by Chinese chipmakers. "Some Chinese students went back to China midway through their Ph.D. programs," he said.

 Back