TSMC engineers receive an email from Huawei management every three months asking them to find employment at other companies.
One of the engineers, a 43-year-old Taiwanese woman named Chloe Chen, could easily find several such recruitment emails in her inbox, asking her typical questions about considering new opportunities and whether a company was looking for someone with her level of experience. These emails came from a recruitment agency controlled by Huawei. French media "Le Monde" reported that Ms. Chen never responded to any email.
It is possible that she is satisfied with her current position, and it is more likely that joining Huawei will bring greater risks to her future. In short, jumping to the former Chinese giant almost meant she would never be hired by another Taiwanese company again. Taiwan’s Judicial Investigation Bureau has investigated many similar cases, and these companies usually describe themselves as data analysis companies.
In fact, these entities have their own purpose: to recruit Taiwanese talent for the development and mass production of cutting-edge semiconductors. The conditions imposed by Huawei are difficult to ignore as the latter seeks to poach talent with salaries that are sometimes three times higher than what TSMC pays its engineers. Since the ultimate goal of these potential employers is to obtain the trade secrets of their previous employer, those who receive these emails may feel discouraged that their careers may be damaged.
In addition, it is impossible to confirm how these employees will be treated if they are hired by Huawei. Although wages have tripled, there is no way of knowing what the working conditions will be like in the new environment and whether these people will be overworked to realize Huawei's dreams. In addition, these companies can take advantage of these new talents because they will realize that since no Taiwanese company will hire them again, there is a possibility that they will be taken advantage of, putting them in an extremely difficult situation.