Slashdot Mirror
America's Chipmakers Go To War vs. China (axios.com)
Chinese raids of U.S. intellectual property have helped China build a solid high-tech economy. But the U.S. semiconductor industry is still far ahead -- and China is desperate to catch up. From a report: Semiconductor manufacturers are fighting to protect IP from the Chinese, fearing that, without coherent action from the Trump administration, Beijing could bulldoze their industries. Three weeks ago, Micron and South Korean chipmakers Samsung and SK Hynix all reported that the Chinese government had launched antitrust probes into their firms, and accused them of setting artificially high prices for memory chips. American companies and the U.S. government have long been suspicious about the link between China's anti-monopoly policies and its industrial goals. "They want access to the intellectual property. They need us to teach them how to do it. Once they have the industry, they want to push us out," an industry source familiar with China's investigation into Micron tells Axios. The price hikes, the source says, are largely due to a boom in demand for memory chips in everything from smartphones to autonomous vehicles. China's investigation is "a clear indication that they're not ready to make [semiconductors] work," says the source. The New York Times has a story which also details the lawsuit of how a Fujian govt-backed chipmaker allegedly stole secrets from Micron. Then Micron got sued for patent infringement in Fujian.
Or as the Times reporter describes it, "This is how you lose a major tech company. First, a Beijing-backed buyout offer. Then friendly Chinese partnership proposals. Then the tech gets stolen. Then when you file a complaint in court, you get hit with investigations in China, your biggest market."
Or as the Times reporter describes it, "This is how you lose a major tech company. First, a Beijing-backed buyout offer. Then friendly Chinese partnership proposals. Then the tech gets stolen. Then when you file a complaint in court, you get hit with investigations in China, your biggest market."
As a non-American I will buy products from whoever gives the the best value for money. Right now, thanks to low wages and the ability to produce quality goods at a low price, China is winning that battle. If I buy an American product then I'm basically paying extra so some fat kid in the US with high wage expectations can have a fancier life, not to get a good product.
The CIA and MI6 assured the US government that freedom would spread quickly and fully all over China in the 1980's.
That free trade would change China and that democracy would move into China under the cover of free trade.
The West invested fully and China simply took the tech for free.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Like Solar. Anybody who built their own plants lost due to Chinese subsidies and building too cheap for anybody else to compete.
What You Sow, So Shall You Reap.
Re 'Step 2: Outsource all the jobs overseas."
South Korea, Thailand, the Philippines kept US secrets during the Vietnam war.
Nations that helped and supported their friends in the USA.
They would have welcomed and supported all and any new US high tech investment in the late 1970-90's. Low wages, low tax, secure and ready to support the USA.
Educated, english speaking. A good working history with the US mil.
Ireland would have done great tax deals too.
What did the USA do? Invest in Communist China. Give secrets away for free to China with every new US factory opened.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Re 'Step 2: Outsource all the jobs overseas." South Korea, Thailand, the Philippines kept US secrets during the Vietnam war. Nations that helped and supported their friends in the USA. They would have welcomed and supported all and any new US high tech investment in the late 1970-90's. Low wages, low tax, secure and ready to support the USA. Educated, english speaking. A good working history with the US mil. Ireland would have done great tax deals too. What did the USA do? Invest in Communist China. Give secrets away for free to China with every new US factory opened.
That was a political choice made by Nixon/Kissenger in the 1960s. The theory was that engagement with China will liberalize them. Some opportunistic behavior was to be tolerated since it will be offset by the political rewards of a reformed Communist China. Sadly those reforms ended with the Tienaman Square Massacre in 1989 but that 1960s policy of tolerating the opportunistic, now predatory, behavior continued. Trump may be an idiot but he's somehow got it correct that our policy has to change, it has to be reciprocal, free and open and fair in both directions or in neither direction. We can't continue the unidirectional policy, that failed. The modern messenger may be wrong but message is correct.
The average Chinese contract manufacturer makes about a 1% profit selling to the west. They more or less have to cheat and sell additional production in China which gets exported 'informally'.
Full price for cheap knockoffs is already in the market, the Chinese are way behind in moving up the value curve. By this number of years the Japanese already owned the world camera market and were starting to own the car market.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'