Quiet drive to lure chip talent

People visiting Semicon China, a trade fair for semiconductor technology, in Shanghai, China. — Reuters

FOR a decade until 2018, China sought to recruit elite foreign-trained scientists under a lavishly funded programme that Washington viewed as a threat to US interests and technological supremacy.

Two years after it stopped promoting the Thousand Talents Plan (TTP) amid US investigations of scientists, China quietly revived the initiative under a new name and format as part of a broader mission to accelerate its tech proficiency, according to three sources with knowledge of the matter and a Reuters review of over 500 government documents spanning 2019 to 2023.