In addition to this, as an international company, Tektronix has a number of observations about the competition between Taiwan’s and China’s electronics industries. CTIMES invited Tektronix Greater China Regional Chief Inspector of Product Technology, Chen Xiang-jun (referred to below as “Chen”), for a thought-provoking conversation with CTIMES Chief Editor, Owen Ou (referred to below as “Ou”). The key points of this dialog are reported below.

Ou: The market for mobile devices changes quickly. In the past two years, wearable devices and electronic medical care products have also made their appearance. According to your observations, what changes will the market experience in 2014 and what are some corresponding ways that these new technologies and products can be dealt with using test and measurement technologies?

図I：製品技術、陳翔-6月のテクトロニクスグレーターチャイナ地域の主任警部

Chen: From the decline of the PC and the notebook and the rise of mobile devices to the current appearance of the word “Phablet” and the abrupt rise of wearable devices, in recent years the mobile market has truly experienced significant changes. However, in terms of test and measurement, the requirements for test and measurement technology and the conditions for testing and measuring have not changed much. This is because mobile devices have components, such as CPU, GPU, battery management IC, and memory, which are also found in other types of electronic products.

However when speaking about market trends, there are a few technologies that we must pay attention to in 2014, and foremost among them is Orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM). This technology has actually existed for a long time, and in the past it was usually used for ultra-wideband (UWB). However, I have recently observed that many institutions of higher learning in Taiwan, especially universities, have fully plunged into researching this technology and cultivating related talent. Other countries, such as the United States and China are also actively pursuing this.

Ou: As you were saying, Tektronix is constantly expanding the available product lines. Would you be able to share Tektronix’s reason for promoting the six in one oscilloscope?

Chen: The six in one oscilloscope is not so much a product as a concept that is being promoted by Tektronix. This concept is simultaneously bringing the analysis of time and frequency domains into one measurement apparatus. Although many functions are integrated into one apparatus, Tektronix insists that these functions must not be compromised, and the specifications and standards for this apparatus are the same.

As for the motives for promoting the six in one oscilloscope, in the past when discussing oscilloscopes, frequency spectrum was never part of the discussion, and especially when you discussed RF with a digital circuit design engineer, they usually didn’t have any ideas. However, the linkage between digital circuits and RF is extremely strong. If you just pay close attention to a single aspect, as soon a source of interference comes in, it is difficult for engineers to find the true problem and carry out a debugging.

Having said that, does the concept of having a demand for digital circuit designers to provide an RF truly have motivating force in the market or market demand? I believe that at the moment it is not very big. In actuality, Tektronix does not embrace the point of view of market demands when promoting the concept of the six in one oscilloscope; however, I believe that the market needs to be introduced to this kind of concept. Even though when formulating product blueprints, latent market demands are factors to consider, Tektronix’s products are not completely guided by them.

Ou: This makes me think of how the software portion needs full stack engineers. From the client end of the Internet framework to the host end of programing design, they must understand everything. This also is the talent that Google and Amazon desire. Looking back at the software dimension, how do you believe Taiwan should cultivate full stack engineers that understand both digital and also analog?

Chen: This is a simple question, but it is difficult to answer. Has Taiwan cultivated this kind of talent? My reply is “definitely.” It is not that Taiwan does not have any full stack engineers, but you cannot avoid mentioning that these engineers are not all in Taiwan – the majority of them choose to live overseas.

In Beijing and in California I have met a number of full stack engineers that were Taiwanese people. They were truly excellent engineers. Thus it can be seen that the environment in Taiwan is capable of cultivating this kind of talent. However, if you mention universalizing this kind of full stack talent and increasing Taiwan’s competitive abilities, I have reservations. This would require completely overhauling the system.

Ou: In this respect, China has recently caught up to Taiwan, and it is more and more technologically mature. What do you think about the developing situation of the competitive relationship between Taiwan and Mainland China? How should Taiwan develop its own diverse characteristics and where do its advantages lie?

Chen: From 1990 to early in 2000, the supply chain for Taiwan’s entire computer industry or 3C industry, from semiconductor businesses to IC design, IC manufacturing, IC OEM, OEM, and ODM was entirely ahead of Mainland China’s. However, in recent years Mainland China has invested considerable resources into educating its talent. The changes in the current landscape of its industries are an evitable trend. Besides this, the degree of cooperation between schools and industries is considerably high in Mainland China. They place an extremely high degree of importance on cooperation between industries and schools.

herefore, during the past 10-15 years, the gap between Mainland China and Taiwan has shrunk to the point where Mainland China is not even two years behind, and in some types of industries, especially consumer products, it can already be said that Mainland China is in the lead over Taiwan. For instance, in the low-end smartphone market, there is no way that Taiwanese manufacturers can compete with Mainland China’s advantage of having low production costs. Taiwan’s advantage lies in its high quality products and a few new technological applications that are a step ahead of Mainland China’s.

Because of Taiwan’s advantage of having supply chains for IC manufacturing, it can attract foreign companies who are seeking OEM manufacturing partners. Therefore, its speed in understanding new technologies is , on the whole, in synch with the United States. This is currently an advantage that Taiwan still retains, and it must use this kind of advantage to attract large amounts of outstanding overseas talent in order for it to be possible to stay ahead of Mainland China. Otherwise, as far as industry goes, Taiwan will only be able to abandon the electronics industry in the end. When speaking about the current environment, it’s difficult to be optimistic.

Ou: According to what you said, Mainland China’s supply chain is strongly linked to their advantage of having low production costs, and this makes many Taiwanese companies unable to hold their own against them. In this respect, what is left over for Taiwanese manufacturers?

Chen: Taiwan is currently making every effort to popularize creativity, soft power, and the Internet. In magazines there are many articles about where it is good to eat in Taiwan and where to go to have fun. Even foreigners think that Taiwan is a suitable place to live after retiring. I don’t think that this is bad, but I worry about one aspect. When did Taiwan go from being the electronics kingdom to being a country for people to live in after retiring?

Of course Taiwan’s electronics industry still has definite advantages. In addition to the aforementioned high speed of understanding new technologies, why can the IC design retain its lead ahead of Mainland China? A major reason is having deeply-rooted IC manufacturing experience. While maintaining consistent quality, they are able to quickly manufacture products with low production costs.

Taiwan’s semiconductor downstream industry is a fully integrated system, and its computer chip OEMs are also extremely strong. We have to give credit to TSMC Semiconductor Company. Although Taiwan is not the leader in computing technology, there is still the background support of TSMC that allows companies to become leading competitors with the same high standards of manufacturing and production costs. Simply put, Taiwan’s biggest advantage is the semiconductor industry and IC industry supply chains, and its know-how also lies in these areas.

This is the biggest headache for Mainland China. Mainland China’s IC design is already considerably mature, but its limitation is that it has no integrated IC manufacturing industry or IC OEM industry.

That said, I already have a very serious feeling of danger, and regarding Taiwan’s future, I can only say that I have this feeling of danger. We have to see the challenges in the environment clearly and know where our core values lie. That’s all!