Taiwan has been the key stronghold for the international semiconductor industry. Based on its advantages of the professional division of labor and comprehensive supply chain, the total value of the Taiwanese semiconductor industry is estimated to reach NTD4.88 trillion in 2022, not only boosting Taiwan’s GDP growth to surpass Japan and Korea but also making it the top-ranking economy in Eastern Asia region for the first time and the world’s second-largest semiconductor supplier.
Indeed, such achievements are fully attributed to Taiwanese manufacturers of IC design, manufacturing, and assembly/testing, who have been continuously striving for high productivity, high market share, and high added value. In recent years, as the development of the semiconductor industry is marked as a key focus for Taiwan, this East Asian economy has been proactively strengthening the resilience of the semiconductor industry supply chain, aiming to develop Taiwan into the Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Center and the Advanced Manufacturing Center of Asia, to perfect a comprehensive semiconductor ecosystem in Taiwan.
The Taiwanese administration has been actively promoting technological development and talent cultivation for the semiconductor industry to enhance forward-looking R&D technologies and optimize the existing employment and living conditions, anticipating the establishment of the world’s most profound and comprehensive semiconductor industry base in Taiwan, allowing all international talents to join Taiwanese semiconductor enterprises and expand their full expertise. In addition, Taiwan also plans to offer the finest academic-industrial cooperation programs and great scholarships for international students interested in the field. By applying to the semiconductor-related academies or bachelor programs provided by the Taiwanese higher education system, students are expected to complete formal education and obtain degrees, becoming the ready-to-fight force for the Taiwanese semiconductor industry
To attract and retain international talents to study and work in Taiwan, the Taiwanese administration promulgated the “Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals” which refines the visa, job, and residence requirements for foreign professionals and also improves insurance, tax, and pension conditions. It also loosens the “regulations for relative dependency”, offering a further guarantee for the education right of children of foreign residents, hoping that a better system can successfully attract more international talents to work in Taiwan.
In recent years, as digital technology evolvements have driven the explosive growth of the semiconductor industry, talent sufficiency has become the key factor for securing international competitive advantage. Challenged by the global competition to retain outstanding talents, the Industrial Development Bureau of MOEA (IDB) has entrusted the Institute for Information Industry (III) to establish the “International Academic-Industrial Exchange Alliance” in which the Taiwanese leadership is responsible to set up the promotion mechanism, connect enterprises’ demands with academic resources precisely, and contribute to a three-win scenario with the academic-industrial-governmental collaboration. This includes ensuring student supply for the colleges, talents for the industry, and guarantees for the students, solving the crisis of talent shortage. To meet the demand for talent in the Taiwanese semiconductor industry, the IDB is hosting the “Southeast Asia Semiconductor Recruitment Team” this year (2023). Together with renowned semiconductor enterprises and the best semiconductor academies in Taiwan, the IDB will visit the top engineering academies in Southeast Asia and promote the three international talent recruitment methods – business matching programs, academic seminars and projects, and formal education – to attract outstanding overseas engineering talents to Taiwan. Such processes also involve recruitment sessions and face-to-face discussions, allowing representatives of Taiwan to highlight the semiconductor curriculum and advantages of career opportunities in Taiwan and create more chances to interact with the ideal semiconductor talents in person. It is anticipated that such means will achieve decent progress in matching and recruiting foreign talents.
The International Semiconductor Talent Recruit Events have been held respectively in March and June in Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines at the top universities such as National University of Singapore (NUS), Universiti Malaya (UM) and University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD). These events successfully brought the Taiwanese semiconductor companies and universities face to face with the international talents as well as promoted Taiwan’s working and learning advantages in the field of semiconductor. Students, whether undergraduate or postgraduate, all eagerly seized the opportunity and signed up for the campus interview sessions. The events eventually host more than 400 interviews and aroused positive feedback from both the Malaysia and Singapore partner universities and Taiwan representatives, reaffirming its effectiveness of international talent matching.
The third semiconductor recruitment sessions will soon be held on September 21st and 22nd 2023 at Ton Duc Thang University (TDTU) and University of Information Technology (UIT), targeting the outstanding semiconductor talents of Vietnam. This time, there will be 12 participating semiconductor enterprises including Mediatek, ASE, Nanya, Micron, Realtek and Ardentec as well as Taiwan’s universities NTU, NTHU, NYCU, NCKU, NTUT and CGU. By holding the semiconductor talent recruit events, it creates a solid basis for establishing a further long-term collaboration, and such International Academic-Industrial Exchange Alliance also expands the database of international talents as well as deepens the friendship between Taiwan and Southeast Asia.
For more information, please refer to the event website:
https://www.iei.org.tw/iei_talent/public/en/iei_talent_Reg
- Event Name: 2023 Semiconductor Southeast Asia Vietnam Recruitment Team of the Industrial Development Bureau, MOEA
- Event Date: September 21st and 22nd, 2023
- Registration Link: https://www.iei.org.tw/iei_talent/public/en/iei_talent_Reg (Please register before 2023 September 10th)
- Advisory unit: Industrial Development Bureau, MOEA
- Organizing unit: Intelligent Electronics Institute (IDB), Intelligent Electronics Talents Application Development and Promotion Project and The Industry-Academia Cultivation Program of High-level Talents in Semiconductor Industry
Executing unit: Institute of Information Industry (III) and the Southern Taiwan Industry Promotion Center (STIPC)
