As China commences vast operations to bolster its chip-manufacturing efforts, with one of them putting in-house EUV machines into trial production later this year, talented engineers who migrated to other regions in search of better opportunities, such as working for Apple have begun returning to their native homeland to catalyze the country’s operations. The newest entrant is an individual who worked on wireless semiconductors at the Cupertino giant, and his departure comes shortly after another chip engineer resigned from the company, with his work contributing to materializing the M3 and M4 that power a bevy of Apple Macs and iPads.
Before finding work at Apple, the chip engineer commenced his career at Oracle, working on mixed-signal IC designs
Kong Long, the person in question, has joined Fudan’s School of Microelectronics as a researcher and doctoral adviser, according to his profile on the university’s website. According to the South China Morning Post, his latest position will ‘focus on radio frequency integrated circuit (IC) system design, digital-analogue hybrid computing chips, and high-speed data interface ICs.’
With the U.S. export controls on China not budging an inch, several engineers employed overseas are making the trip back home to push the region’s chip-making ambitions to obtain dependency from a multitude of companies. Kong’s education speaks volumes of his talents, as after graduating from Shanghai Jiao Tong University with a degree in microelectronics, he acquired his PhD in electrical engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 2016.
His career took off at Oracle, where he worked as a hardware engineer. From there, he was employed by Apple, where his efforts contributed to the development of radio frequency chips used in the iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods. Similar to Kong, another chip engineer and a former Apple employee, Wang Huanyu, had recently joined the School of Integrated Circuits at Huazhong University of Science and Technology.
Wang has worked on Apple’s M3 and M4 lineup of custom SoCs but left the company in December this year after serving for three years as an implementation engineer for central processing units. There is no update on whether both of these chip engineers have returned to China due to external pressure or resigned of their own accord, but there is an increasing trend of Chinese-born individuals returning to their home country.
It is possible that with the Trump administration laser-focused on inhibiting China’s progress in the semiconductor country, these engineers may have been subject to intense scrutiny on where their allegiance lies, forcing them to leave what were most likely well-compensated positions at Apple.
News Source: South China Morning Post
About the author: Omar Sohail is a reporter and analyst for Wccftech's mobile section, specializing in the technology and business of the mobile industry. His expertise lies in the intricate hardware supply chain, covering developments in semiconductor manufacturing, chip lithography, and camera sensor technology.
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