Huawei has grand ambitions of completely ridding itself of foreign technology and relying on its resources to get the job done, but it will take a massive investment for the former Chinese giant’s goals to reach fruition. To accomplish this, the company is reportedly putting up $1.66 billion for its R&D chip plant and has employed talented personnel hailing from the likes of ASML to speed up the process.
Huawei has handed out generous compensation packages, but engineers claim that working for the company is ‘brutal’
As the U.S. puts tighter export controls over Chinese companies like Huawei, the latter aims to achieve autonomy in the chip development segment through its R&D facility. According to Nikkei Asia, the total investment for the entire R&D plant will come to about 12 billion yuan, and it is listed as one of Shanghai’s top projects for 2024. To entice talented individuals to come to work for Huawei, the company is reportedly offering salary packages that are worth twice as much as what local chipmakers are giving.
Additionally, to help pick up the pace of its goals, Huawei is said to have hired several previously employed engineers at ASML, Applied Materials, Lam Research, and more. Technology veterans with more than 15 years of experience at TSMC, Intel, and Micron were also among the recent and potential hires. However, irrespective of Huawei’s attractive compensation packages, working for the company is a daunting task, as one chip engineer reportedly stated the following:
“Working with them is brutal. It’s not 996 -- meaning working from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week. ... It will literally be 007 -- from midnight to midnight, seven days a week. No days off at all. The contract will be for three years, [but] the majority of people can't survive till renewal.”
Huawei has responded to the U.S. crackdown aggressively, but in its attempt to find independence, it might be overworking its staff. Assuming the pressure is too much, the firm might lose its talented pool of individuals quickly to the competition, becoming its own worst enemy. It is also unclear if Huawei will continue to work with SMIC for its future chip technology.
As it so happens, China’s biggest semiconductor manufacturer is reportedly setting up 5nm production lines for Huawei’s next Kirin chipset, and commercialization could kick off later this year. SMIC is also said to have formed an internal research and development team as it plans to mass produce 3nm wafers on the existing DUV equipment. Naturally, the chipmaker is an ally that Huawei will likely hold on to for the foreseeable future until it can get its own plant up and running at full capacity.
News Source: Nikkei
