Link by link, China crafts its industry

摘要

Suzhou, China ― The echo of drills and hammers still reverberates throughout the halls of Suzhou's ultra-modern IC design center. Outside, day laborers in tweed coats toil away, shoveling dirt, as young IC designers rush by, en route to building the foundation for a nascent industry. In the future, this IC design center will be a hub of creativity, one of several sources that seed China's domestic design firms. But today, the background noise of construction, and the empty fields and offices nearby, serve as a reminder that there is much work to be done. At the same time, the science park shows how much has already been accomplished. LCD maker AU Optronics, EMS providers Solectron and Celestica, semiconductor foundry He Jian, plus numerous other manufacturers and a handful of IC design houses have already set up shop here.