May 26, 20224:45 PM GMT+7
TAIPEI, May 26 (Reuters) - Taiwan authorities raided ten Chinese
companies suspected of illegally poaching chip engineers and other tech talent
this week, the island's Investigation Bureau said on Thursday, the latest
crackdown on Chinese firms to protect its chip supremacy.
Home to chipmaker giant TSMC (2330.TW) 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. read more
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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