Taiwan's Spy Catchers Hunt Chinese Poachers of Chip Talent

Taiwan's spy catchers have launched probes into around 100 Chinese companies suspected of illegally poaching semiconductor engineers and other tech talent, a senior official at the island's Investigation Bureau told Reuters. From the report: That comes on top of seven prosecuted since the start of last year and includes 27 which have either been raided or whose owners have been summoned for questioning by the bureau, the official said. Home to industry giant TSMC and accounting for 92% of the world's most advanced semiconductor manufacturing capacity, Taiwan possesses what China needs - chip expertise in spades.

A global chip shortage and Beijing's avowed goal of achieving self-reliance in advanced chips - more forcefully promoted by Chinese President Xi Jinping after a trade war with the former Trump administration - has only intensified the scramble for engineering talent. Taiwan responded with the creation in December 2020 of a task force within the justice ministry's Investigation Bureau -- its main spy catching organisation -- to tackle poaching. Cases where it has taken action with raids or questioning represented "the tip of the iceberg", the official said, asking to remain anonymous so that investigations are not impeded.

Re:Slave labour

[AmiMoJo]

I was wondering what illegal stuff they could be doing, so I RTFA.

It's apparently fine for them to offer large salaries and bonuses to attract Taiwanese engineers, but many are reluctant to relocate to China. Furthermore, under Taiwanese law it is illegal for Chinese chip manufacturers to set up shop in Taiwan, so they can't just open an R&D centre there and employ people locally.

And that is what they are accused of doing - illegally operating companies in Taiwan. Interestingly they seem to be using the same tricks that some Western companies do, e.g. incorporating in the Cayman Islands and keeping ownership secret that way.

Re:

[OpenGLFan]

I'm also struggling to find the "illegal" part. Is it illegal for a Taiwanese citizen to work remotely for a Chinese company? Is it illegal for them to work remotely for a Dutch company, if a Chinese company sets up a Dutch subsidiary?

I'm not saying it's not -- just wondering why the article didn't go into more detail about which laws they're breaking. I mean, I'm American, but I assume as long as I pay US taxes on my income, that I could work for a company physically located in France or Japan.

Re:

[AmiMoJo]

I wonder if it's presenteeism. The companies feel that they have to have people on site.

Might be payment and tax issues too.

Re:Slave labour

[hey!]

It's illegal for *mainland Chinese* semiconductor companies to operate in Taiwan; it's perfectly legal for Western companies to do so; in fact pretty much all US semiconductor firms have offices there (Intel, AMD, TI, Analog Devices).

The article doesn't say anything about remote work; Taiwanese counterintelligence has been raiding physical offices *in Taiwan* whose Chinese ownership had been concealed through overseas shell companies. The article also mentions that it is perfectly legal for Taiwanese engineers to work in mainland China if they want to.

Under the circumstances, it seems likely that the Taiwanese engineers didn't know they were working for a mainland company. Summary aside, this is not about "poaching"; it's about industrial espionage.

Re:

[loonycyborg]

Taiwan discriminates against any mainland companies, but that's positive discrimination from their point of view since formally they're still in civil war with PRC. Taiwan isn't even a real country(for example, not recognized by US), so they have lot more freedom in which laws they may have.

Re:Slave labour

[Klaxton]

Obviously you didn't bother to read the article.

"It is not illegal per se for Chinese firms to hire Taiwanese engineers. Taiwanese law, however, 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 firms to operate on the island legally.

Taiwanese engineers are also free to go to China, but many prefer the quality of life on the island"

Re:

[waspleg]

Yea, West Taiwan is a communist shit hole. [youtube.com]

Re:

[ArmoredDragon]

Oh god this is classic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

How it works!

[klipclop]

Hi, I'm a recruiter for a Chinese thin film fabricator! Would you like a job for 4x your current salary? If I was Taiwanese, I'd just be a bit worried once I move to China, I'd basically never be allowed to "quit" and leave China.

Re:

[ghoul]

The job is remote . You can work from your home in Taiwan and get 4 times the salary paid in an offshore account. Why wouldnt you unless nationalistic propaganda has convinced you China is the enemy.

National Self Reliance

[Tuxguin]

The best way to invade others when the world is populated by cowards that can only use sanctions

Where did they learn these skills?

[RogueWarrior65]

Where did Taiwan, specifically TSMC, learn these chip-making skills and why can't other countries (read: The US) do the same?

Re:

[Great_Geek]

TSMC, as the story goes, is the only major employer so many Ph.D. work there, doing fab. technician work. A lot of their secrets are just applying high level knowledge to low level job. Other countries, particularly the US, can certianly just tell TSMC to hand over everything; but it is unlikely that any country can replicate the knowledge/job level ratio.

Re:

[mrclevesque]

Sadly, most media do it in earnest thinking they're helping matters while not realizing they're in effect trolling others and escalating differences, making matters worse.

There's a parallel to be made with the military parading of a nation's biggest mass weapons of destruction along the borders of other countries.

I admit I might have drifted a bit off topic, but I'm definitely not trolling.

It's not just Taiwan.

[BetterSense]

If you work in the industry in the US, and are mid-career, you've got these proposals too. Usually, it's an offer for about twice the market salary, and "fully remote, but with required quarterly travel to Asia".

Of course, you have to weigh the potential upside against the chances of becoming the next Shane Todd.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Shane_Todd

Human rights of Engineers

[ghoul]

If journalists working for Chinese owned media outlets in Taiwan were being arrested simply for getting their paychecks from China the world would be howling over media freedom. But somehow its OK to go after Engineers. Somehow STEM graduates seem to have fewer human rights.

Re:

[belmolis]

No, what is illegal is for Taiwanese engineers to be employed by PRC-owned companies that conceal their ownership because in effect those companies are engaged in industrial espionage. Journalists employed by PRC companies disclose their employer and do not generally have access to trade secrets. Furthermore, it is not the Taiwanese engineers who are being arrested for working for PRC-owned companies. It is the local Taiwanese "owners" of these companies who are being arrested for fronting for PRC-owned co

Re:

[ghoul]

These engineers are not carrying document from Taiwanese owned companies to PRC owned companies. They are only carrying the knowledge in their heads. To call that espionage is literally prosecuting thought crimes.