00:00Authorities are investigating 11 Chinese companies suspected of illegally poaching Taiwan talent
00:05from semiconductor and other high-tech industries.
00:09Prosecutors say the Chinese firm set up shell companies in Taiwan.
00:12They are accused of luring engineers from science parks with higher pay.
00:17One of the firms being probed is Anchor Innovations, a major player in mobile charging devices.
00:22The cases come as China pushes for semiconductor self-sufficiency amid a deepening tech rivalry
00:27with the U.S.
00:28Taiwan's Investigation Bureau says it has handled over 100 similar cases since late 2020.
00:37To learn more about how Chinese companies poach talent from semiconductor and other high-tech
00:41industries in Taiwan, our reporter Liliana Matina spoke with Zhang Ningyan from the Research
00:46Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology.
00:51To what extent does this issue of talent poaching reflect the broader U.S.-China tech rivalry
00:56playing out through Taiwan's semiconductor sector?
00:59Our Investigation Bureau, since 2021, has been investigating over 100 or even hundreds of cases in the
01:11similar scenario, which means that Chinese entities try to poach talent from Taiwan's semiconductor industries.
01:21The talent, especially semiconductor designing or manufacturing talents, would be also important for China to push up their technology.
01:35So it would be highly relevant to a current U.S.-China technology rivalry.
01:39Now, how do these Chinese companies typically carry out talent poaching in Taiwan?
01:44But the basic pattern, I would say, is because they cannot directly invest in Taiwan.
01:52So they would always like working with certain foreign capital or Hong Kong capital or even Taiwanese engineers to set
02:03up business
02:03site in Taiwan and to access some technology or recruit talent locally, but with some operation remotely.
02:15Taiwanese authorities have been cracking down on these cases.
02:19Taiwanese authorities have been cracking down on these cases.
02:19Are current enforcement mechanisms enough or does Taiwan need tougher laws to prevent talent outflow?
02:24We passed the role in 2022 and we incorporate the new legal concept for national core critical technology into our
02:35economic security regime in Taiwan.
02:37And also is allowed our government to ask the certain researcher with the access to the national core critical technology.
02:50And if they want to travel to China, they have to report to our authority.
02:57But most of the semiconductor activity in the private sector, they don't actually get such a large amount of government
03:06subsidies.
03:07So it is still very limited for the Taiwanese government to employ these.
03:14I think the Taiwanese government has been doing a good job in investigating these cases.
03:21But furthermore, I think they could improve the current regulatory regime.
03:28That was Zhang Mingyan from DSET.
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