More than 100 veteran engineers and managers from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world's leading chipmaker, have been hired by two Chinese chip companies since last year, the Nikkei Asian Review reported on Wednesday.
The report cited sources as saying that the hirings are aimed at fostering a domestic chip industry in order to cut the Chinese mainland's reliance on foreign suppliers.
The two companies which are little-known are Quanxin Integrated Circuit Manufacturing (Jinan), better known as QXIC, and Wuhan Hongxin Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., or HSMC.
In addition to employing more than 50 former TSMC employees each, both are also led by ex-TSMC executives with established reputations in the chip world, the report said.
The two projects are aiming to develop 14nm and 12nm chip process technologies, which are two to three generations behind TSMC but still the most cutting-edge in the mainland, the report said.
The report comes as companies including Huawei are pushing for technology independence.
Earlier today, a Weibo blogger said Huawei has launched the "Tashan Project" to make its foray into semiconductor manufacturing and is ready to build a chip production line without US technology.
Huawei reportedly launches 'Tashan Project' to build 45nm chip production line this year
The blogger said Huawei has begun to work with related companies, ready to build a y 45nm chip production line completely without US technology, which is expected to be completed within this year.
At the same time, Huawei is also exploring cooperation with other companies to build a 28nm chip production line of its own technology, the blogger said.
Chinese newspaper thepaper.cn quoted an unnamed source from Huawei's chip-designing arm HiSilicon as saying that he has not heard of the "Tashan Project” after an earlier report said Huawei has launched the project to make its foray into semiconductor manufacturing.
The colleagues around him are also not aware of this matter, the source added.
Separatly, Union Tech, the developer behind the China-made Unity Operating System, today announced the release of its desktop operating system V20 Professional (1021) version and the official English name of the system: UnionTech OS.
The brand logo, English name, and system abbreviation of the operating system were upgraded, and the English name was officially updated to "UnionTech OS", the company said.
China's Windows equivalent is officially named UnionTech OS and gets V20 Professional version update
