“There's a lot of concern for chip production being so concentrated, and it's only becoming more important for everything from aerospace and defense to smartphones and the internet of things,” says Sam Azar, senior vice president for corporate development and legal affairs at Globalfoundries, which has called for the U.S. to ban a range of TSMC imports. “A lot of that production comes from one area in Greater China. A lightbulb should go off saying, Wow, that may not be good for the world.”
Globalfoundries’ Azar says he isn't sure when the dust will settle on the trade war or his company’s suits against TSMC. Whatever happens, he says, tech companies and chipmakers need to return to supply chains that aren’t just clustered on one continent. “Having a manufacturing base in America, in Europe - that's a competitive advantage for us,” he says. “Be ready.”
Look what money can buy:
Tsinghua Unigroup, one of China’s leading chipmakers, has hired Japanese semiconductor industry veteran Yukio Sakamoto as a senior vice president and also head of the company’s Japan unit.
Sakamoto, 72, served as chief executive of once-leading Japanese chipmaker Elpida Memory, which was established by combining the memory chip units of NEC and Hitachi.
Besides Sakamoto’s experience, the Chinese government-backed Unigroup likely aims to put his connections in Japan and beyond to work as it expands its reach.
In an interview with Nikkei this year, Sakamoto said it was imperative for China to develop its own chip technology, rather than poaching engineers from South Korea or Taiwan with high salaries.
“It’s better for China to persevere for five years and develop its own technology and build a foundation. China has a large domestic market and it would be better to nurture the ability to create semiconductor products that fit that market,” he said.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Electronics/Japan-chip-industry-heavyweight-joins-China-s-Unigroup