Indian students can gain experience in Taiwan and return to serve India

Mumin Chen representative of Taipei Economic and Cultural Centre in India

- NAMRATA BIJI AHUJA

As India looks to build a globally competitive semiconductor ecosystem, the real starting point lies in talent.

In an exclusive interview, Mumin Chen of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Centre underlines the need for India to reverse its brain drain, encourage students and engineers to train in Taiwan's advanced semiconductor ecosystem and return to work in India. Excerpts:

Q Taiwan transitioned from an agriculture-based economy to a global semiconductor leader. What were the key phases and turning points in that journey?

The key change happened in the 1970s, when a new thing called the integrated circuit (IC) emerged. Americans invented it, but the countries that performed best were in Asia—first Japan, and then Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. These countries started manufacturing electronic products using ICs. Taiwan entered this market in the 1970s. We had sufficient labour force and strong market access, as major markets were the US and western countries. Taiwan was an export-oriented economy. So in the 1970s, the society gradually focused on manufacturing ICs and IT-related products.

In the 1980s, computers emerged, first personal computers. In the 1990s, mobile phones came in. And in the 2000s, smartphones. Because Taiwan already had experience in manufacturing electronic products, it became easier to upgrade IC technology. Eventually, Taiwan became a key manufacturer of semiconductor products.

Q Given this experience, how do you see India's potential—can it follow a similar path or does it need a different strategy?