Monday, March 15, 2021

Sputnik — China's Baidu Raises $2bn With Investors for AI Chipmaker Kunlun Amid Global Semiconductor Shortage

The news comes the Chinese firm seeks to commercialise its chipmaking design capabilities with the hopes Kunlun will become a separate business, sources familiar with the matter said on Monday....
Sputnik International
China's Baidu Raises $2bn With Investors for AI Chipmaker Kunlun Amid Global Semiconductor Shortage

1 comment:

Ahmed Fares said...

This is another way of obtaining process technology.

China Poaches Over 100 TSMC Engineers to Bolster Domestic Chip Industry

It's all about the talent.

TSMC has good reasons to worry about losing its assets, especially when there is a possibility that the chipmaker's trade secrets could illicitly exchange hands in the transition process. TSMC's annual turnover rate is less than 5%. Nevertheless, TSMC has started to take action to protect its intellectual property, such as requesting equipment manufacturers to sign an agreement to not sell TSMC's customized tools to HSMC or QXIC.

A previous Nikkei report revealed that Taiwan has lost over 3,000 chip engineers to China. It goes without saying that TSMC was a bit worried when QXIC miraculously opened up a research and development center nearby TSMC's 5nm plant in south Taiwan. QXIC certainly didn't set up shop there for the weather.

China has a knack for poaching the right talent and welcomes rival industry veterans with opened arms. The Chinese chipmakers not only throw more money at their prospects, but also offer them the opportunity to grow inside the organization.


source: China Poaches Over 100 TSMC Engineers to Bolster Domestic Chip Industry