Global Talent War | Ep. 2: Intern at TSMC, Graduate With a Job: Taiwan’s New Export Is Education

In Kumamoto, Japan, there are now more than 20 job openings for every available candidate. TSMC needs engineers at its Kumamoto plant — and equally at its facilities in Taiwan. Rather than waiting for Japanese graduates to apply on their own, Taiwan's Ministry of Education, technical universities, and TSMC have since 2025 formed a coordinated recruitment effort, flying directly to Kyushu campuses with scholarship offers and internship contracts. For Japanese science and engineering students weighing their options, this pathway has become one of the most widely discussed choices available.

Taiwan's Ministry of Education launched a new semiconductor program track beginning in the 2024–25 academic year. Under joint government and corporate subsidies, Japanese students enrolled in master's or doctoral programs in Taiwan receive approximately NT$20,000 (roughly USD 620) per month; undergraduate students receive approximately NT$15,000 (roughly USD 465) per month. The funding is conditional: graduates are required to fulfill a stipulated period of employment in Taiwan after completing their degrees.

National Yunlin University of Science and Technology (雲林科技大學) has established a "2+2 Semiconductor Specialty Program" targeting graduates of Japanese kosen (technical colleges) and specialized vocational schools (専門学校). Applicants enter directly at the third-year level and can complete a bachelor's degree in as little as two years. In addition to a full tuition waiver, the university provides approximately NT$10,000 (roughly USD 310) per month in living expenses. The combination — studying Chinese and semiconductor engineering in Taiwan, earning a Taiwanese bachelor's degree in two years at no cost — has spread rapidly through Japan's kosen community.

National Taipei University of Technology (台北科技大學) drew on its alumni network and a partnership with TSMC to launch a "Semiconductor Process and Equipment Bachelor's Degree Program" in September 2025, targeting Japanese high school and university graduates. National Taiwan Normal University (台灣師範大學) co-organized a semiconductor and artificial intelligence summer intensive program with TSMC in summer 2025. The inaugural cohort comprised 28 participants from Kumamoto University and Prefectural University of Kumamoto.

TSMC's "DNA Internship Program" allows Japanese students enrolled at Taiwanese universities to intern at facilities in Hsinchu, Taichung, and Tainan while still completing their degrees. Students who meet performance benchmarks receive formal employment offers during the internship itself. Upon graduation, participants may remain at Taiwan-based facilities or transfer to TSMC's JASM plant in Kumamoto. From university application and scholarship receipt through factory internship to job offer, the entire pathway now forms a closed loop — students are not required to piece it together independently.

In the second half of 2026, Taiwan-Japan semiconductor talent cooperation is set to enter a more concrete implementation phase. Both the 0+4 and 2+2 Japanese semiconductor talent programs at National Yunlin University of Science and Technology are scheduled to begin enrollment in the autumn 2026 semester. National Taipei University of Technology has also announced selection results and scholarship outcomes for its 2026 autumn Japanese student intake in the semiconductor process and equipment program. Beyond these, Ming Chuan University (銘傳大學) is developing an English-language international master's program in semiconductor-related fields in partnership with ASE Group (日月光), targeting Japanese students. This signals that talent development has extended beyond TSMC's process engineering end to encompass packaging and testing, equipment engineering, and broader applied engineering talent chains. When combined with Minghsin University of Science and Technology's (明新科技大學) already-operational Japanese semiconductor program and the summer semiconductor-AI co-learning model linking National Taiwan Normal University with the Kumamoto university system, Taiwan is forming a continuous talent cultivation channel — spanning short-term study programs, bachelor's specialty tracks, two-year articulation pathways, and master's programs with corporate internships.

What is particularly notable is that Taiwan's semiconductor education outreach toward Japan has moved well beyond early-stage bilateral arrangements or conventional exchange student agreements. Looking across current institutional deployments, it is formally evolving into a funnel-shaped talent supply chain.

At the widest point of the funnel sits interest generation and initial exposure. The semiconductor and AI summer intensive program linking National Taiwan Normal University with Kumamoto University and Prefectural University of Kumamoto, for instance, brings Japanese students to Taiwan on short-term study arrangements — introducing them to the Chinese-language environment, Taiwan's semiconductor industry, and direct exposure to TSMC and related enterprises.

The middle of the funnel addresses foundational training and degree articulation. Vocational and technical institutions including National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, National Taipei University of Technology, and Minghsin University of Science and Technology have begun using 0+4, 2+2, and dedicated bachelor's tracks to bring Japanese graduates from high schools, kosen, vocational schools, and junior colleges directly into Taiwan's semiconductor engineering education system.

At the funnel's narrowest end, the focus shifts toward advanced training and sub-sector specialization. Ming Chuan University's English-language master's program developed in partnership with ASE Group, for example, targets more granular industry needs in packaging and testing, electrical engineering, and corporate internships. This indicates that what Taiwan is exporting is not simply process engineering education shaped by a "TSMC-centric" conception, but a comprehensive talent development channel spanning front-end processes, equipment engineering, back-end packaging and testing, and international corporate internships.

Taiwan is converting its structural advantages across the semiconductor supply chain into an exportable education product. For Japan — at a moment when domestic semiconductor revitalization demands a substantial influx of engineering talent — leveraging Taiwan's mature semiconductor applied education infrastructure, industry access, and corporate networks addresses precisely the gap Japan has been least equipped to fill on its own: practical, industry-ready semiconductor engineering training.

Original Article in Chinese

（Related： Global Talent War | Ep. 1： TSMC Kumamoto Plant Is Reshaping Japan's Credential Hierarchy ｜ Latest ）