The problem of brain drain has grown in Taiwan as more college graduates seek employment in foreign countries that offer higher pay, National Development Council Minister Chen Tain-jy (陳添枝) said yesterday.
“The government is contemplating measures to rein in the trend, which is mainly driven by the difference in wages between Taiwan and more competitive markets,” Chen said, without giving details.
According to the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, more than 720,000 Taiwanese are working overseas, with China being the largest location, accounting for 58 percent of the total.
About 5 percent of Taiwanese workers abroad hold undergraduate or higher degrees, meeting the definition of brain drain, Chen said, citing data from the immigration and labor agencies.
MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the nation’s largest handset chip designer, offers the highest salaries among all Taiwanese firms, but its compensation lags way behind its Chinese competitors, Chen said.
Chinese firms, especially in the semiconductor industry, have recruited workers from Taiwan to meet their technology demand and aim to boost market share, Chen said.
Besides China, companies in Japan, Singapore and the US all offer better pay, Chen added.
“The phenomenon is worrying,” he said.
Many talented workers study finance and business administration in college and about an equal number of them major in electronic engineering and computer science, Chen said.
Brain drain will further squeeze labor supply, as technology firms nationwide have had difficulty recruiting skilled engineers, he said.
The government and Micron Technology Inc — the world’s No. 3 DRAM chipmaker — have found the supply of skilled engineers “very tight” after the US-based company completed its acquisition of Inotera Memories Inc (華亞科技), Chen said.
As for non-technology sectors, Taiwan has increasingly lost appeal with foreign financial service providers, driving college graduates to seek work overseas, he said.
“Graduates of finance and business administration simply cannot find jobs in Taiwan because companies want them to be based abroad,” Chen said.
The government is seeking to help create a friendly environment so that foreign financial firms would consider setting up regional operation offices in Taiwan, he said.
The local market does not suffer a lack of capital, but is in need of investment that can create jobs, he added.
Shiina Ito has had fewer Chinese customers at her Tokyo jewelry shop since Beijing issued a travel warning in the wake of a diplomatic spat, but she said she was not concerned. A souring of Tokyo-Beijing relations this month, following remarks by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi about Taiwan, has fueled concerns about the impact on the ritzy boutiques, noodle joints and hotels where holidaymakers spend their cash. However, businesses in Tokyo largely shrugged off any anxiety. “Since there are fewer Chinese customers, it’s become a bit easier for Japanese shoppers to visit, so our sales haven’t really dropped,” Ito
The number of Taiwanese working in the US rose to a record high of 137,000 last year, driven largely by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) rapid overseas expansion, according to government data released yesterday. A total of 666,000 Taiwanese nationals were employed abroad last year, an increase of 45,000 from 2023 and the highest level since the COVID-19 pandemic, data from the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) showed. Overseas employment had steadily increased between 2009 and 2019, peaking at 739,000, before plunging to 319,000 in 2021 amid US-China trade tensions, global supply chain shifts, reshoring by Taiwanese companies and
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) Chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) and the company’s former chairman, Mark Liu (劉德音), both received the Robert N. Noyce Award -- the semiconductor industry’s highest honor -- in San Jose, California, on Thursday (local time). Speaking at the award event, Liu, who retired last year, expressed gratitude to his wife, his dissertation advisor at the University of California, Berkeley, his supervisors at AT&T Bell Laboratories -- where he worked on optical fiber communication systems before joining TSMC, TSMC partners, and industry colleagues. Liu said that working alongside TSMC
TECHNOLOGY DAY: The Taiwanese firm is also setting up a joint venture with Alphabet Inc on robots and plans to establish a firm in Japan to produce Model A EVs Manufacturing giant Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday announced a collaboration with ChatGPT developer OpenAI to build next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and strengthen its local supply chain in the US to accelerate the deployment of advanced AI systems. Building such an infrastructure in the US is crucial for strengthening local supply chains and supporting the US in maintaining its leading position in the AI domain, Hon Hai said in a statement. Through the collaboration, OpenAI would share its insights into emerging hardware needs in the AI industry with Hon Hai to support the company’s design and development work, as well
RSS