【写在前面】以下是即将卸任总编辑、担任EETimes“首席国际特派员”新职的吉田顺子(Junko Yoshida)女士近日发表的一篇部博客文章，提及EETimes将投注更多资源在中国(大中华区)在地报导的一些新策略。EETimes的报导未来将会更有看头，请读者们拭目以待啰！
对于已经跃升为全球第二大经济体、且持续快速成长的中国，无论是商业世界或是全球媒体，都不得不伏首称臣；不过中国也很容易被用以制造危言耸听，无论是其廉价劳工、仿冒产品、政治体系、税收制度、官方主导五年计划….等等，对美国人来说都是深具文化与社会隔阂的遥远外国话题。
今日的中国已经是美国政府公债的最大海外买主，这虽是事实，但美国总统大选在即，这个议题很难不被政治人物利用，引发美国民众认为中国若是来讨债、可能会使美国一蹶不振的恐惧心理，并将美国的高失业率归咎于中国。显然美国人对中国都有一种“精神分裂”式的看法，会依据目前舆论热门话题的走向，切换中国是 “好”或“坏”的两个极端形象；但因为很多事情背后的复杂性，很多真相其实是未被揭露的。
在笔者与产业界人士的谈话过程中，总是会被他们丰富的见识与深刻的全球性观点所震慑；而如同EETimes读者们所看到的，在过去的一年半以来，有关中国的议题多次出现，以下是一些我们报导过的重点摘要：
1. 对中国是科技产品“制造商”的描述，虽然仍然没错，但已经快要过时了；中国已经快速转向成为技术的“设计者”。
2. 据说中国目前有超过500家无晶圆厂设计业者，也许数字有点灌水，却是一个很明显的趋势；排名前二十大的中国无晶圆厂设计业者，在IP核心、设计能力以及对先进制程的使用能力上，早已与美国硅谷的同业者们不相上下。
3. 自2008年底的全球金融风暴以来，北京政府已经取代美国的风险投资业者，成为世界最大金主；中国官方给予其国内无晶圆厂设计业者的庞大支持是空前的，包括各种资金补贴以及扶植政策。
4. 别再形容中国是个独 裁国家，该国是由不同种族背景的人民所组成──就像过去的苏联；不过中国不同城乡之间的差距很大。
5. 许多西方世界的半导体业者都已经进入中国深耕当地市场，包括建立设计据点；如同恩智浦半导体(NXP)CEO所言，该公司“实际上是一家中国公司”。
6. 成功半导体厂商像是台湾芯片设计业者联发科(MediaTek)，已经开始有效利用中国的大量软件工程师人才，以助力其手机芯片业务。而因为具备与中国在地理、语言与文化上的接近性，使得台湾在中国市场扮演要角。
7. 不过在中国设置设计团队并不能保证一定会成功；例如博通(Broadcom)与Trident在当地都有DTV SoC设计团队，但成绩似乎一直都不如联发科与晨星(MStar)。
8. 大多数中国厂商还是以国内市场为主要焦点，但也有越来越多开始涉足全球市场；有位来自中国的业界朋友最近说：”在中国，全球化并非一个趋势，而是本地厂商的业务策略。”
9. 中国目前无疑仍是一个中央集权的国家，但也别忽视中国各地方政府的力量；中国不同省份通常有自己的产业发展计划(以及偏好的技术类别)与专责机构。
10. 最后，中国逐渐崛起的中产阶级影响力是不容小觑的；根据一项2011年的消费性电子使用情况与支出调查，与巴西、印度、俄罗斯、法国、德国、日本与美国相较，中国的消费者是 3D电视、智能手机等最新式消费性电子产品的最积极买家。
以上有关中国的摘要是随机列出，并没有重要性的分别；而笔者今年的重点工作，就是去挖掘中国市场的现况，探询目前在中国市场的本土与西方厂商在技术与业务发展上的看法，以及与中国当地的工程师社群面对面接触，了解他们对中国与全球市场的观点。而笔者也要在此宣布自己的新职务──EETimes首席国际特派员 (Chief International Correspondent)，未来会特别着重中国市场的一手报导。
随着科技产业重心移往中国，EETimes美国版也将积极跟着趋势前进；笔者不会马上就搬到中国，但会定期亲自前往该地到处看看，并与当地的产业界人士交流。对于曾经随着家人外派而移居东京、美国硅谷、巴黎与纽约等地的笔者来说，这样一个新任务正是我所梦寐以求、跃跃欲试的…如果你也是时常在中国、美国与欧洲等地来去的产业界朋友，欢迎一起交流心得！
编译：Judith Cheng
本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载
参考英文原文：Why China?，by Junko Yoshida
相关阅读：
• iSuppli:国家电网重组对中国电表市场影响重大
• 想成为亚洲公司就是大逆不道？
• 欧洲血统只是表面掩饰，NXP其实是中国公司8Olesmc
{pagination}
Why China?
Junko Yoshida
NEW YORK – We all pay abject lip service to China. The business community and the media are equally in thrall to the world’s second largest – and fastest growing economy.
But China’s also a handy device for fear mongering.
Cheap labor, fake chips, counterfeit DVDs, the Communist Party, reeducation, all those central government-led 5-year plans…China strikes us foreign and distant, culturally and socially speaking.
Further, China today is the largest foreign buyer of US government debt. That’s a fact, but in an election year, it’s a fact that fuels fear of China calling in our debt and bringing America to its knees. That catastrophe is unlikely, but it doesn’t forestall politicians – and much of the U.S. public – from blaming China for every lost job in America.
It’s clear that we have a schizophrenic perception of China. We conveniently switch back and forth between two images of China, as we see fit, depending on the hot topic at the moment. Between the two polar views of China, however, many stories – with layers of complexity – remain untold.
As I talk to people in our industry, I am constantly amazed how much they know and how insightful their global views are. In our interviews and reporting at EE Times and EE Times Confidential over the last 18 months, China inevitably came up again and again. Here are just some sample of threads on China we’ve picked up.
1. Portraying China just as a “manufacturer” of technology products, while still true, is passé. China is rapidly rising as a “designer” of technology.
2. Some say there are more than 500 fabless chip companies in China. While that’s an inflated number, there is an unmistakable trend. The top 20 China fabless companies are now on equal footing – in terms of IP cores, design skills and access to advanced process technology – with any fabless company in Silicon Valley. (Find the names of more than 80 Chinese fabless comanies here. )
3. Since the global financial crisis in late 2008, Beijing bureaucrats have replaced U.S. venture capitalists as the major funding source. The Chinese government has given its fabless companies unprecedented access to capital, including subsidies, grants and other incentives.
4. Never paint China as a monolithic country. The country consists of people with diverse ethnic backgrounds – just like the Soviet Union once was. The inequality of different regions – between big cities and villages in the country side – is unimaginably huge. Like warlords in Afghanistan, some provincial governors are powers unto themselves.
5. Many leading chip companies in the West already have established a strong presence in China with their design teams in tow. As NXP CEO Rick Clemmer said, NXP today is “practically a Chinese company.”
6. Successful companies like MediaTek in Taiwan have effectively mined the vast amount of software engineers in China to bolster their mobile chip business. Taiwan’s proximity to China – in geography, language and culture – is definitely playing a role here.
7. Installing a design team in China, however, is no guarantee of success. Both Broadcom and Trident famously had their DTV SoC design teams in China. Neither came up with a successful product, while MediaTek and MStar ate their lunch.
8. Most Chinese companies remain focused on the domestic market. But they look increasingly to the global market. As a colleague in China recently said, “Globalization is not a ‘trend’ in China. It’s a ‘business strategy’ for Chinese companies.”
9. There’s no question that China remains under strong control by the central government. But never underestimate the power of municipal and local agencies in China. They often have their own agendas (even their own technology preferences) to expand the economy within their own regions.
10. Last but not least, let’s not forget the growing affluence of the middle class in China. According to a 2011 Accenture survey focused on usage and spending on consumer electronics technologies in eight countries (Brazil, China, India, Russia, France, Germany, Japan and the United States), Chinese consumers were among the most enthusiastic purchasers and users of the latest consumer technologies including 3-D TVs and smart phones.
I listed above items in a random order, jotting notes as thoughts popped into my head. In short, I’ve probably left out a lot.
My goal this year is to be less random and get a better grip on things and fill in the left-out stuff . For example: what’s happening in China (broadly); what technology and business concerns confront both Chinese companies and Western companies in China today; what does the engineering community in China look like; what are Chinese engineers looking for in the domestic and global markets, etc. I’m happy to report that as of Wednesday (May 9th), my new role at EE Times is Chief International Correspondent – with a strong emphasis in China.
As the industry-base has moved to China, EE Times will be moving, too -- aggressively.
I won’t be actually moving to China right away. But until I do so, I’ll be in and out of China regularly, poking around, ruffling (I hope) a few feathers. Whether you happen to be in Beijing, in New York, in Tokyo or in Paris over the next few months, drop me a note at junko.yoshida@ubm.com. Let’s synchronize our watch and meet up.
As I step down from being EE Times’ editor-in-chief, I’ll report to Alex Wolfe – EE Times’ new brand director. Anyone with an institutional memory should recognize his name. Alex is the newshound who broke the Pentium FPU bug story at EE Times in 1994. He returns to EE Times with a wealth of ideas and multimedia skill set. In the 1990’s, I remember Alex as the toughest news editor in this industry. He’s been known to gut a cub reporter with nothing sharper than a blue pencil. I’m looking forward to the challenge again.
I also want to thank Karen Field, senior vice president of content at UBM Electronics, who played an instrumental role in taking the first brave step toward making the China assignment possible.
For someone like me who has moved dwellings (and husband) and pursued reporting assignments from Tokyo, Cupertino and San Mateo to Paris and New York, the new position is a dream come true. It’s a job I had long lobbied for and a role I plan to relish.
责编：Quentin
扫码分享到好友
