TI CEO sees slow rise for China
By Mike Clendenin
EE Times
September 22, 2003 (7:08 p.m. ET)
TAIPEI — Taking a more tempered approach to Asia's hottest market, Texas Instruments CEO Thomas Engibous said Monday that China's transformation into an electronics powerhouse will be a lengthy affair that is guided by the hand of influential Taiwanese firms already on the ground.
“China is in the very early stages of developing their own electronics industry. I wouldn't say that anybody should be shaking in their boots,” said Engibous, speaking on the sidelines of Taiwan's Computex, Asia's largest computer-oriented trade show. “China is really just a large market for products today but a very large direct competitor down the road.”
In the short-term, China will remain as one of the top spots for labor-intensive tasks, he said, such as system assembly, where it can leverage low wages. IC packaging, for instance, is already an area where multinationals are haggling for capacity in order to help meet local content rules issued by China. An IC that is packaged in China is often considered made in China, a loophole that is helping drive the early development of packagers like Amkor, ChiPac and some low-key Taiwan-China joint ventures.
Over the next few years, Engibous said China will also emerge as a more reliable source of semiconductor foundries for TI. So far, the IC maker has ruled out the possibility of building its own fab there, which is similar thinking to its peers, such as Intel Corp, Samsung and STMicroelectronics.
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