By Cherry Sun, SEMI China
Yawning differences between cultures, economic systems and rules of law stand as barriers for many China- and US-based technology companies to do business on each other’s soil, making it imperative for both countries to work together to bridge the gaps that make it harder for tech businesses in each country to find partners and open markets in the other, SEMI China president Lung Chu said at a recent conference.
One answer is for SEMI, serving as a natural unifying communications platform, to help foster greater cooperation between US and China tech companies, Lung Chu said, speaking at the 2nd Silicon Valley Beijing International IoT Summit & Investment and Financing Competition in Santa Clara last month. The event gathered industry experts and experts to mine opportunities across technologies including smart and mobile medical care, virtual and augmented reality, wearables, smart homes, artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, 3D printing, Internet of Things (IoT) and manufacturing design.
In the IoT roundtable chaired by Chu, he asked mayors and other city officials from Sunnyvale, Palo Alto and Cupertino to consider the potential of IoT technology for improving city management. Inspired by the idea of greater efficiency, the mayors pointed to IoT applications including traffic management to better regulate traffic flow; faster, more effective medical treatment from first responders and emergency medical technicians; more efficient energy usage by cities and the public; better water resources management; and bicycle sharing programs for commuters.
Deploying more advanced networking architectures, the mayors agreed, is the first step for cities seeking to fulfill the promise of IoT. A recognized global leader in smart city technologies, China is much more than a key trade partner with the U.S., having developed IoT use cases for cities in Silicon Valley and beyond to consider.
Chu also asked the mayors about the importance to their cities of attracting talent and encouraging entrepreneurship. The roundtable agreed that in Silicon Valley, taking risks in hopes of reaping huge profits is prized and that failure is embraced as necessary to innovation. In China, pressure on business startups to flourish can inhibit the free-wheeling thinking and calculated risk-taking often needed to build new enterprises.
On talent, one mayor underscored the importance of diversity in building a skilled workforce. According to a recent report based on 2016 census data, nearly three-quarters – about 71 percent of tech employees in Silicon Valley – “are foreign born, compared to around 50 percent in the San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward region,” The Mercury News reported. Carl Guardino, CEO of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, has noted that this “diversity is the strength of Silicon Valley.”
Much as China can turn to Silicon Valley as a model of entrepreneurship and diversity, the U.S. can learn from China’s deployment of IoT technologies to power smart cities as the country’s prominence in the semiconductor manufacturing industry continues to grow. An ally in that rising influence, SEMI China follows the 5C principles – Connect, Collaboration, Community, Communication, China – to help narrow the differences between China and other countries and foster stronger partnerships.
Originally published on the SEMI blog.