Chip scandal hurts high-tech push

Chip scandal hurts high-tech push
(chinadaily.com.cn/NYtimes)
Updated: 2006-05-15 09:27

While in Texas, he impressed a lot of people. He co-authored several scientific papers at the University of Texas with Jacob Abraham, a professor of computer engineering and his dissertation supervisor.

"He was a good student," Abraham said by telephone. "His PhD research involved some innovative ideas for testing analog circuits."

Once back home, Chen worked for a time at Motorola's Suzhou research center, not far from Shanghai, before taking a job at Jiaotong University, one of China's most prestigious universities. By then, creating a homegrown digital signal processor chip - a sophisticated microchip that can process digitized data for mobile phones, digital cameras and other electronic devices - had become a priority of the government.

No Chinese company had been very successful. Yet the government, some industry officials say, was pressing Chinese scientists to create such a chip fast. Chen did. Within two years, he announced his breakthrough: a digital signal processor that could process 200 million instructions per second.

This was something big for China. His invention hit the headlines of all major national newspapers in February 2003, like "Homegrown Digital Chip Developed," "China Makes Breakthrough in Chip Development," and "Shanghai Chips Away at High- Tech Industry."

Some stories said China was spending billions of dollars buying foreign made chips to put in electronics equipment. Now, they suggested, China could use its own chip.

That was a banner year for Chen. He was named founding dean of the microelectronics school at Jiaotong. He headed a university research center. He was heavily financed by the government. He was named a Chang Jiang Scholar by Beijing, one of the most prestigious positions for a young scientist.

Chen had overseen a lab of more than 100 researchers. He was highly regarded in his field and also busy creating his own family of companies.

According to press reports, he formed several companies to help design chips, including one based in Texas, which was founded with the help of a former Texas classmate. Everyone in China seemed to be backing him.

When he announced creation of Hanxin II and III in 2004, Beijing's Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the National Reform and Development Commission and the Shanghai government were helping finance his operations.

At that time, the company he formed reported having orders for 3.5 million chips, with possible deals from major companies like IBM. Two years later, according to press accounts, the whistleblowers came forward. Some colleagues had a dispute with Chen and they began contacting the government. They claimed, according to the media, that migrant workers had simply scratched away the name "Motorola" from a chip and replaced it with "Hanxin." They gave details of an array of companies that Chen operated to profit from the big government contracts he received.

Indeed, there were lengthy press reports about the fake chip scandal well before the government investigation was completed this year. On Friday, however, the official Xinhua news agency reported that government had concluded Chen had faked the computer chips findings.

Jiaotong University issued its own press release Friday, saying Chen had breached the university's trust and exaggerated his findings.

The school also said, "None of the Hanxin chips can be ranked as world leading DSP chips."

The government in Beijing canceled the Hanxin project and recalled all of its scientific funds.

The case is also a serious blow to the enormous ambitions of Shanghai, which is fast developing into a microelectronics and semiconductor design and manufacturing center.

On the Jiaotong campus, several students expressed dismay at the scandal Sunday, worrying about how it might affect their careers, but also wondering whether Chen was unfairly singled out.

"Professor Chen is really unlucky," said a student named Wu. "He lied and was caught. I think there are other people faking their research but they haven't been caught yet. He's probably not the worst."

Another student, named Wang, who asked not to be completely identified, added: "I'm not surprised by the scandal. Now a lot of professors are like businessmen. They are good at talking and promotion and many of them have their own companies and make as much money as they can."

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