In today's global economy, access to resources around the world has never been easier. The high tech industry has always been in the forefront of globalization in lowering costs, acquiring talent as well as serving markets. For instance, Asian countries have long been known for their vast manufacturing bases for western high tech industry.

In recent years, thanks to Y2K, India has become the leader in software outsourcing. China, given its expanding economy as well as its open market direction, has rapidly become the emerging location for multi-national semiconductor companies to outsource their product development amidst China's own burgeoning integrated circuit (IC) industry. Mr. Lee has first-hand experience in building and managing an IC product development center in Shanghai, China. He will discuss the challenges of operating a R&D organization in an environment of different languages and cultures. He will also share his vision of the future of the IC industry in China.

Mr. Lee is Group Vice President and general manager of Timing Solutions Products at Integrated Device Technology, Inc.(IDT), a public semiconductor company of $650 million annual sales, focusing on valued-added solutions for communication, consumer and computing markets. He has been with IDT for the last 22 years and has served various management roles. In 2001, he architected the acquisition of Newave Semiconductor Corporation in China and established the Shanghai Product Development Center for IDT. Before joining IDT in 1984, Mr. Lee spent 5 years at Intel Corporation as a technologist for the early development of flash memory technology. Mr. Lee earned his B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from National Taiwan University in 1975 and M.S. degree from Case Western Reserve University in 1979.

Dr. Shavit Matias is Deputy Attorney General of Israel, in charge of international issues. In that capacity she is involved, among other things, in shaping Israel's policy on Middle East, Palestinian, and international issues, and works closely with the Israeli National Security Council and the Israeli Cabinet Ministers on those issues. Dr. Matias, and others in her department, participate in the negotiations and discussions with the Palestinians and the International Community, most currently with respect to issues relating to the Disengagement from Gaza process and its aftermath. Prior to being nominated Deputy Attorney General, Dr. Matias was a partner at the leading Israeli law firm of Yigal Arnon, where she was involved in international business transactions, had practiced with the law firm of Shearman and Sterling, and was an adjunct Professor at Georgetown University Law Center and at the Hebrew University Faculty of Law. Dr. Matias received her LL.B. from Tel-Aviv University, her LL.M. from Georgetown University and her Doctorate in international law from George Washington University. Dr. Matias represents the State of Israel in various international committees and international institutions, and has published on international law and policy issues. She is currently a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution.

For years policymakers in China have advocated creating "Silicon Valleys" in China, but only recently has China's semiconductor industry taken off. Rather than the state leading the way, economic globalization has created the large flow of capital and knowledge to the developing world that has spurred China's technological development in recent years.

However, not all firms in China benefit equally from these inflows of financial and human capital. Presenting both industry-wide data and case studies of individual firms, Dr. Fuller will explain how the politics of finance in China shape which Chinese chip firms become fast learners able to compete in world markets and which ones remain technological laggards.

Douglas Fuller has spent over ten years researching technological development in East Asia. Most recently, he completed a doctorate at MIT in political economy. The topic of his thesis was technological development in China's IT industry. For this and previous research, he has interviewed IT firms in Malaysia, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, the People's Republic of China and the US. He has published articles in Industry and Innovation and other peer-reviewed journals.

Part of SPRIE's Greater China and the Globalization of R&D seminar series.

China's software industry is at an inflexion point. For the past decade, China has been in the shadow of India's spectacular success in the IT outsourcing industry. While changes are underway, many challenges remain. However, it is possible to build software development teams in China, collaborating with teams in the United States, to be as good as software development teams anywhere in the world.

Dr. Liu will discuss his experience as Chairman and CEO of Augmentum, a value-added software development services company that has grown in two years to more than 450 people worldwide, 90% of them at Augmentum's development facility in Shanghai. Sixty percent of Augmentum's work is high-value added such as total products and solutions, from architecture to system integration test. All their customers are in North America -- many of them leaders in their respective industries.

Leonard Liu has spent 30 years in the systems industry, with a track record of developing innovative computing technologies into successful businesses. Most recently, he served as president of ASE Group, a leading provider of IC test and packaging services, having held roles as Chairman and CEO of Walker Interactive Systems, COO of Cadence Design Systems, and President of Acer Group. He was an early champion of outsourcing to India and China at Cadence and Walker. Dr. Liu began his career at IBM where he was responsible for the creation and implementation of SQL and the management of CICS, SNA and AIX, eventually overseeing the worldwide Database and Language lines-of-business. He received his undergraduate degree from Taiwan University and his Ph.D. from Princeton University.

Part of SPRIE's Greater China and the Globalization of R&D seminar series