Facing significant challenges due to US and Western sanctions on its advanced chip manufacturing ambitions, Huawei is reportedly escalating its efforts to recruit employees from key chip equipment suppliers, including ASML and Zeiss, offering salaries up to three times higher than their current compensation.
Circumventing Sanctions Through Talent Acquisition
US sanctions, initiated during the Trump administration and expanded under the Biden administration, have severely restricted Huawei's access to advanced chips and chip manufacturing equipment, including ASML's crucial EUV lithography machines. These sanctions have also impacted SMIC, China's largest contract chip manufacturer, forcing them to rely on older equipment and complex multi-patterning techniques.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, Huawei is now targeting employees of Zeiss, a German company and key ASML supplier known for its advanced lenses used in semiconductor fabrication. The report indicates that Huawei is particularly interested in employees with access to sensitive proprietary information, prompting an ongoing investigation by German intelligence officials.
Huawei's Strategic Response
These recruitment efforts represent Huawei's latest attempt to develop its own chip manufacturing capabilities in response to Western sanctions. Access to advanced chips is critical for Huawei's competitiveness in the global tech market, especially against rivals like Apple and Samsung who utilize cutting-edge processors, such as the 3nm chips in the latest iPhones.
This situation echoes previous challenges faced by Chinese chip manufacturers, such as SMIC's struggles in 2021 due to internal conflicts and the impact of US sanctions on its 5nm chip development plans.
China is going after technology workers around the world to steal intellectual property build its semiconductor industry, and the West is freaking out, the WSJ reports. For example, China’s Huawei offered to triple salaries to poach Zeiss employees via LinkedIn headhunters. Zeiss…
— Dan Nystedt (@dnystedt) November 28, 2024
