Taiwan supports in next generation of talent with chip schools

Taiwan supports in next generation of talent with chip schools. 

People in Taiwan want to make sure that the next generation can make chips.

Taiwan: People in Taiwan aren’t pleased about the news. Taiwan is trying to set up “chip schools” that run all year long to train the next generation of semiconductor engineers and keep its lead in the industry.

People in Taiwan want to make more chips, the “brains” that run things like phones and fighter jet planes. 

Chipmakers are spending billions of dollars on building more capacity because of a global shortage. The chip company TSMC alone will spend up to $44 billion this year and hire more than 8,000 people.

This is what Jack Sun, who used to be TSMC’s chief technology officer, said to the media: Chipmakers need to hire a lot more and better people to compete on the global stage. 

Sun also became dean of one of the new semiconductor graduate schools last year.

Sun said with a chuckle: “Yes, I’m spending some of my golden years working with young people.” He then pointed out that his former TSMC colleague Burn Lin is older and the dean of a chip school Sun used to work at.

Sun and Lin, two people who used to work in the computer industry but now teach, are an example of the government’s plan to strengthen industry-academic ties so that the U.S. can stay a vital part of the global chip supply chain.

Tsai said in December that “in the development of semiconductor talent, we are racing against time.”

The Taiwanese government has teamed up with some of the best chip companies to pay for this schAs a result. One more has been approved by the education ministry. 

The first four were set up at top universities last year, each with a cap of about 100 master’s and Ph.D. students, and another has been approved as well.

Tsai: “I asked that these schools stay open all year long, without winter and summer breaks, so that we can quickly find new talent.”

The democratically elected government is worried about a lack of people who know how to make chips. 

This is a big problem because the chip industry is essential for economic growth and national security, especially as China steps up its military pressure on Taiwan.