Mainland China targets Taiwan’s top tech talent

Chinese chipmakers are successfully enticing Taiwanese senior chip engineers over with lucrative offers.

As reported by Reuters, these offers include huge pay increases, free trips home at least eight times a year, and subsidised apartments.

According to Taipei-based recruitment firm H&L Management Consultants, more than 300 senior engineers from Taiwan have moved to Chinese chipmakers this year already.

This is on top of the 1,000 that have already relocated since 2014, when China setup a US$22 billion fund to develop its chip industry.

China’s drive to attract talent from Taiwan has further intensified this year, following an escalation in trade tensions with the US.

Two Chinese state-run institutions said last month that China’s integrated circuit sector is expected to need 720,000 workers by 2020. At the end of 2017, the sector only had about 400,000 professionals.