Taiwan accuses China of 'cheating' and 'stealing' chipmaking technologies

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Taiwan accuses Chinese chipmakers of stealing technologies.

SMIC
(Image credit: SMIC)

Taiwan's diplomat in Washington, Alexander Yui, has leveled serious accusations against China for attempting to rival Taiwan's semiconductor industry prowess through dishonest means, including intellectual property theft. In an interview with Reuters, Yui dismissed the notion that China's chip sector could soon rival Taiwan's, especially in production of chips on leading-edge nodes. China's ambassador in the U.S. denies any wrongdoing by Chinese companies. 

The de-facto ambassador of Taiwan in the U.S. accused Chinese chipmakers of circumventing standard practices of innovation and instead resorting to dishonest methods to advance their capabilities. Despite significant investments, Yui remains skeptical of China's ability to produce leading-edge processors that could compete on the global stage, especially in the face of concerted efforts by the U.S. to curb Beijing's technological ambitions through export restrictions and other measures.

"They do not really follow the rules," Yui told Reuters. "They cheat and they copy, etc. They steal technology." Yui said

Truth to be told, China's chip champion Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. stole TSMC's process technologies in the early 2000s and was found guilty of this twice. However, modern technologies, such as 7nm and 5nm process nodes are so sophisticated that it is close to impossible to steal them. Therefore, instead of stealing advanced fabrication technologies, SMIC hires specialists from TSMC and Samsung Foundry to develop them in-house these days. 

A representative from the Chinese embassy in the United States described the allegation as lacking in common sense and being motivated by spite.

"China's scientific and technological achievements are never made through 'cheating' and 'stealing'," embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu told Reuters. "Our development is always built on our own strength, and we are confident of continuing to strengthen China's capability to seek self-reliance and technological innovation."

The dialogue also touched on the accusations made by Donald Trump, the leading Republican candidate for the 2024 U.S. presidential election, who argued that Taiwan was stealing American jobs in the semiconductor industry. Yui refuted these claims by emphasizing the strategic investments Taiwanese companies are making in the U.S., specifically mentioning TSMC's significant investments in Arizona fabs, which make Taiwan a partner to the U.S., not a competitor.

Finally, Yui emphasized the bipartisan support Taiwan enjoys in the U.S., dismissing the idea that the island's technological advancements and security interests are subject to partisan politics. 

Anton Shilov
Anton Shilov
Contributing Writer

Anton Shilov is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends.

28 Comments Comment from the forums
  • hotaru251
    i mean.....shocking to nobody on both sides. (if true or not)
    Reply
  • peachpuff
    Reply
  • atomicWAR
    No surprises here, true or not...
    Reply
  • brandonjclark
    Define If as Story
    If(big)=TRUE
    Reply
  • The Historical Fidelity
    Breaking News: The sky is Blue! (If true)
    Reply
  • d0x360
    hotaru251 said:
    i mean.....shocking to nobody on both sides. (if true or not)
    Of course it's true. China has proven time after time they can't innovate and invent they can only steal and iterate.

    It's a symptom of the largest problem that they have... Communism and the need to produce results quickly and cheap or be replaced... Often violently
    Reply
  • _Shatta_AD_
    Whether it’s true or not, I’m not aware that poaching employees from another company is illegal nor is it not practiced elsewhere including in America. The way this so called ‘diplomat’ made it sound, it’s a crime to do so. Just to reveal the lengths people would go to fabricate negative sentimental accusations out of spite or to use a poor reputation to keep another country in the mud and applying judgement en-mass.
    Yes, there’re no doubt there are few mal-practices within certain Chinese companies but there’s absolutely no way they could get where they are without innovation or skills AND people should definitely not readily accuse ANY/ALL companies from China as copying or stealing, especially when doing so without proof or simply pointing to a few odd cases/questionable sources as proof.
    Again this ‘diplomat’ despises China(he’s from Taiwan), he does NOT work for TSMC and he’s definitely a politician, so his words are politically motivated at best.
    Reply
  • bit_user
    This had an air of inevitability to it...

    SMIC hires specialists from TSMC and Samsung Foundry to develop them in-house these days.
    This is not news, but I guess their public airing of it is.

    BTW, if anyone remembers why it is that motherboards and GPUs still frequently advertise their use of "Japanese capacitors", I'd have to say: what goes around comes around. Once upon a time, Taiwan was the capital of cheap, knockoff products.
    Reply
  • bit_user
    _Shatta_AD_ said:
    I’m not aware that poaching employees from another company is illegal nor is it not practiced elsewhere including in America.
    Many companies will force you to sign a "non-compete" agreement, when you join. In a few states, most notably California, such contracts have been made illegal.

    Even if you're not subject to a non-compete agreement, you're still subject to any non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) you signed with former employers. Furthermore, misuse of "trade secret" IP is very much subject to litigation. While such IP theft or misappropriation is hard to prove, that's different than saying there are no legal protections in place against it.
    Reply
  • ivan_vy
    _Shatta_AD_ said:
    Whether it’s true or not, I’m not aware that poaching employees from another company is illegal nor is it not practiced elsewhere including in America. The way this so called ‘diplomat’ made it sound, it’s a crime to do so. Just to reveal the lengths people would go to fabricate negative sentimental accusations out of spite or to use a poor reputation to keep another country in the mud and applying judgement en-mass.
    Yes, there’re no doubt there are few mal-practices within certain Chinese companies but there’s absolutely no way they could get where they are without innovation or skills AND people should definitely not readily accuse ANY/ALL companies from China as copying or stealing, especially when doing so without proof or simply pointing to a few odd cases/questionable sources as proof.
    Again this ‘diplomat’ despises China(he’s from Taiwan), he does NOT work for TSMC and he’s definitely a politician, so his words are politically motivated at best.
    we need critical thinking, obvious taiwanese politician despise China and it's a 'not so veiled' cry for help to USA, 'we are irreplaceable, help us', yes, it needs a grain of truth to be believable but the burden of the proof relies on the accuser.
    Stealing and further developing need some technological and intellectual capacity, are we just gonna think China is the dumb thief and the technological threat at the same time?
    Reply