It’s no more the Great Leap Forward, but instead the “Robotic Leap Forward.” Automation at the industrial level is now expanding to the consumer level in China, and Beijing is looking to use investment in customer service robots as part of its push to market the nation as a global leader in technology and innovation.

The US-China trade war, combined with stringent sanctions restricting Beijing’s access to a majority of the chip market, has impaired China’s semiconductor aspirations. As a result, Chinese companies have employed various means to poach top semiconductor talent from Taiwan in order to achieve the technological self-sufficiency they seek. Experienced and skilled Taiwanese semiconductor, or integrated circuit (IC) design engineers, could be the key to Chinese chip dominance. However, it could also lead to a significant talent deficit in Taiwan’s semiconductor industry.