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Two years ago PRC Premier Li Kiang was publicly complaining that China could not produce a good ballpoint pen, citing weakness in precision manufacturing. That

Two years ago PRC Premier Li Kiang was publicly complaining that China could not produce a good ballpoint pen, citing weakness in precision manufacturing. That can't be good for a semiconductor fab. http://www.ejinsight.com/20160121-what-ball-pen-tells-us-about-china-s-manufacturing-weakness/ http://www.ejinsight.com/20160121-what-ball-pen-tells-us-abo...

imtringued 8y ago
The explanation given in your article is that the chinese government doesn't invest into "ball pen" ball manufacturing. >The root cause of China’s backwardness in some of the key industrial technologies lies in the fact that state-run and private manufacturers are unwilling to invest in research and development because, This HN submission about the exact opposite: china is investing into semiconductors. Therefore it's not possible to draw conclusions from the article you linked.
- thedailymail 8y ago
  That's not entirely accurate. The article says that "state-run and private manufacturers are unwilling to invest in research and development because, in most cases, it won’t bring profits and extra market share, owing to the lack of protection for intellectual property and rampant plagiarism by other competitors" – i.e., it is not just a public funding problem. It goes on to state that the government has invested in "a RMB$60 million program four years ago to facilitate the research and development of strategic industrial materials such as high-quality steel so as to reduce the country’s reliance on foreign imports, because it is not only an industrial issue but also a national security concern." And then note that, "four years have passed, and the program seems to have achieved nothing." Clearly there have been some very successful funding initiatives in China, but clearly others have not panned out. I think it's fair to say that time will tell whether the semiconductor investment pays off.
chillacy 8y ago
Then 1 year ago, china made a ballpoint pen: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/01/18/finally-china-manufactures-a-ballpoint-pen-all-by-itself/?utm_term=.c1e5524cb2b9 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/01/18... Granted it was a politically hot issue so there must have been lots of top-down pressure rather than allowing a need to rise organically (if some German company will sell you tiny metal balls for less than it would take to sell them the pen, why not just buy it from them?)

imtringued 8y ago

The explanation given in your article is that the chinese government doesn't invest into "ball pen" ball manufacturing. >The root cause of China’s backwardness in some of the key industrial technologies lies in the fact that state-run and private manufacturers are unwilling to invest in research and development because, This HN submission about the exact opposite: china is investing into semiconductors. Therefore it's not possible to draw conclusions from the article you linked.

thedailymail 8y ago
That's not entirely accurate. The article says that "state-run and private manufacturers are unwilling to invest in research and development because, in most cases, it won’t bring profits and extra market share, owing to the lack of protection for intellectual property and rampant plagiarism by other competitors" – i.e., it is not just a public funding problem. It goes on to state that the government has invested in "a RMB$60 million program four years ago to facilitate the research and development of strategic industrial materials such as high-quality steel so as to reduce the country’s reliance on foreign imports, because it is not only an industrial issue but also a national security concern." And then note that, "four years have passed, and the program seems to have achieved nothing." Clearly there have been some very successful funding initiatives in China, but clearly others have not panned out. I think it's fair to say that time will tell whether the semiconductor investment pays off.

chillacy 8y ago

Then 1 year ago, china made a ballpoint pen: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/01/18/finally-china-manufactures-a-ballpoint-pen-all-by-itself/?utm_term=.c1e5524cb2b9 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/01/18... Granted it was a politically hot issue so there must have been lots of top-down pressure rather than allowing a need to rise organically (if some German company will sell you tiny metal balls for less than it would take to sell them the pen, why not just buy it from them?)