Chip Design outsourcing appears inevitable, EEs told

EE Times ^ | September 25, 2003 | Ron Wilson

[oceanview]

and the tens of thousands of engineers in the US making middle class salaries whose jobs are gone, I guess they should all retrain to be chefs.

[oceanview]

so your answer is that salaries for american engineers must fall to 1/10th their current level, because that is what the chinese earn. is that it? that's going to solve it? what american is going to send their kid for a 5 year college education to earn $15-20K per year?

[JohnSmithee]

"and the tens of thousands of engineers in the US making middle class salaries whose jobs are gone, I guess they should all retrain to be chefs."

Maybe they could all get shows on the Food channel. Think positive!

/sarcasm

[oceanview]

they will have the industry, period. there will certainly be new advances in the chip industry, but none of them will take place here once the industry is gone. just like consumer electronics, did that industry come back to the USA when new product advancements took place? of course not, once its gone, its gone, because there will be no new investment in it in the US.

[JohnSmithee]

Sorry to rain on your parade but the loss of American jobs to foreign workers is mostly due to their cheaper salaries. Unless the USD falls in value relative to other currencies there's not much that can be done about it.

[steplock]

I taught and expect my kids to FIGHT for their rights, their country and their families.

NOT for scraps.

[Dan Evans]

so your answer is that salaries for american engineers must fall to 1/10th their current level, because that is what the chinese earn. is that it? that's going to solve it? what american is going to send their kid for a 5 year college education to earn $15-20K per year? .

The answer is in not trading or competing with China and other evil regimes. In the long run this is suicide. It's like the Ford Motor Company building manufacturing plants in Nazi Germany.

[oceanview]

they can do that, in other fields.

[RightOnline]

Yes, there are things that can be done about it........like tariffs, tax incentives to US corporations to retain jobs in-country, etc. Many things. Howver, is the political will there to do these things? No. We've seen too many industries decimated or outright destroyed when some shop in a Third World s**thole opens up and offers to do the same work for 2 cents on the dollar. Before long, we won't have much of anything resembling a middle class.......and these corporations will marvel that there are fewer and fewer Americans able to buy their products.

[Dan Evans]

Engineering has been in decline in the US because manufacturing has declined. Reasons are:

1) An excess population of lawyers, environmentalists and bureaucrats suing, harassing and regulating manufacturers into oblivion.
2) A lack of workers who have sufficient skills because of out lousy primary education system.
3) A Clinton administration that did everything it could to open up US markets to manufacturers in foreign countries that do not deserve out patronage.

These things can be reversed.

[hunter112]

and the tens of thousands of engineers in the US making middle class salaries whose jobs are gone, I guess they should all retrain to be chefs.

Thanks for missing the point of my analogy. I'll make it crystal clear:

Engineers should get their butts out of their cubicles, and develop personalities, so they can adequately explain to non-techie people how to use the technology that gets developed. Yes, this means that they will be selling things rather than just tinkering around a lab bench coming up with crap that people either don't need, or can't understand.

Clear enough, now?

[oceanview]

that might employ 1/10th the current field, if they get into "marketing". in the meantime, china will take the industry. ICs are not Nike sneakers.

[Lessismore]

any freepers with college bound children should read this carefully: steer your children out of this field and other related fields, they are history in the USA. the entire semiconductor and software industry will be gone in 10 years, and very little of other tech will survive.

I disagree. Technology fields will be the economic survivors, although perhaps more in biological sciences than semiconductors and information technology. Your children should definitely learn Chinese.

[Timesink]

I disagree. Technology fields will be the economic survivors, although perhaps more in biological sciences than semiconductors and information technology. Your children should definitely learn Chinese.

Keep in mind that ten years ago we were telling everyone our kids should learn web design and Japanese. The future is exceedingly hard to predict, and the course of history can change on a dime. (9/11 was the most blatant example in the lifetime of most of us reading this today, but there are plenty of more subtle examples out there.)

[ColdSteelTalon]

I fear that the new world order is coming, and it will be built with America on her knees. I pray to God that I won't be alive to see it...

Technology jobs are all that we have left other than the service industry. Once tech is gone we are finished.

Read the book, The Creature From Jeykl Island if you want your eyes to be opened.

[ghostrider]

First, they came for the farmers, and I paid no attention. Next, they came for the unionworkers, and I rejoiced. Then, the came for the stateworkers ,and I cheered. Now, they come for me....

[Lessismore]

Learning Japanese is probably still not a bad idea. However, the foreign language teachers of most American high schools, who are specialists in Western European languages, should be immediately dismissed and replaced by teachers of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Russian, Hindi, and other languages.

Most speakers of Western European languages also speak English better than most high school students could ever hope to speak their languages. Therefore, having our student (yes, my children too) learn Spanish or French is a useless distraction.

[PuNcH]

1) An excess population of lawyers, environmentalists and bureaucrats suing, harassing and regulating manufacturers into oblivion.

This can be reversed? Does that mean we no longer have a concern for standards and we live and work in a 3rd world country? If we have standards then that is still a great expense over the wonderous technology of slave labor and sweatshops even if we have been conservative in maintaining those standards.

2) A lack of workers who have sufficient skills because of out lousy primary education system.

Considering the amount of money that goes into public education it is a terrible failure. It is by far one of the top problems in this country.

[null and void]

ping

[RipSawyer]

"Sorry to rain on your parade but the loss of American jobs to foreign workers is mostly due to their cheaper salaries. Unless the USD falls in value relative to other currencies there's not much that can be done about it."

That is the fact, but what would happen in the short term if we revalued our currency at a realistic level versus the others? All those foreigners who are holding US government debt would suddenly find their holdings grossly devalued and what would be the final result of that?