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Home to chipmaker giant TSMC and accounting for the majority of
the world's most advanced semiconductor manufacturing capacity,
Taiwan has ramped up a campaign to counter illegal poaching by
Chinese companies in what the island sees as a threat to its
chip expertise.
The bureau said it raided 10 Chinese companies or their R&D
centers which operate in Taiwan without approval earlier this
week. It said nearly 70 people have been summoned for
questioning in a joint crackdown across several cities including
the capital Taipei and the island's semiconductor hub, Hsinchu.
"The illegal poaching of Taiwan's high-tech talent by Chinese
companies has badly impacted our international competitiveness
and endangered our national security," the bureau said in a
statement.
It said technology is vital to Taiwan's security and urged
people to "stay high on alert" for such Chinese activities.
The bureau did not name the companies currently being
investigated, adding they included integrated circuit design
firms and electronics parts makers.
China's Taiwan Affairs Office has not responded to Reuters'
requests for comment on the issue.
The Investigation Bureau has launched investigations into around
100 Chinese companies suspected of illegally poaching technology
talents, a senior bureau official told Reuters last month.
China's scramble for chip engineering talent has intensified
amid Beijing's goal of achieving self-reliance in advanced
chips, especially after a trade war with the former Trump
administration in the United States.
Taiwanese law prohibits Chinese investment in some parts of the
semiconductor supply chain, including chip design, and requires
reviews for other areas such as chip packaging, making it very
difficult for Chinese chip companies to operate on the island
legally.
In March, the bureau raided eight Chinese companies aimed at
countering what it said was "the Chinese Communist Party's
illegal activities of talent-poaching and secret-stealing".
(Reporting By Yimou Lee. Editing by Jane Merriman)
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