Apple chip engineer returns to China, joins Fudan University amid push for talent
Apple chip engineer from China has left the US tech giant to join China's prestigious Fudan University in Shanghai, underscoring the country's efforts to attract top semiconductor talent as it seeks to bolster domestic chipmaking capabilities.
Advertisement
Kong Long, who spent more than seven years at Apple's California headquarters working on wireless semiconductors, has joined Fudan's School of Microelectronics as a researcher and doctoral adviser, according to his profile on the university's website. His work will focus on radio frequency integrated circuit (IC) system design, digital-analogue hybrid computing chips, and high-speed data interface ICs.
Kong's move highlights a growing trend of Chinese-born engineers returning home amid Beijing's push to develop advanced chips in the face of tightened US export controls. His appointment comes as China ramps up efforts to nurture a new generation of semiconductor experts to reduce reliance on foreign technology.
After graduating from Shanghai Jiao Tong University with a degree in microelectronics, Kong earned his PhD in electrical engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 2016.
The main gate of Fudan University in Shanghai seen on September 19, 2019. Photo: Shutterstock
He began his career at cloud computing giant Oracle as a hardware engineer, working on mixed-signal IC designs. In 2017, he joined Apple, where he contributed to the development of radio frequency chips used in products such as the iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
6 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Imported workers ‘lifeline' for struggling Hong Kong restaurants: trade chiefs
Restaurant industry leaders have defended Hong Kong's labour importation scheme as a crucial 'lifeline' for their struggling sector, arguing that it injects much-needed new blood and improves service standards rather than taking jobs from local workers. They also dismissed accusations that operators were using the scheme to hire cheap labour, insisting the total cost of employing an imported worker, including accommodation and medical expenses, was higher than for a local employee. Their backing on Wednesday followed a wave of restaurant closures and concern over rising unemployment in the catering industry, which has been hit hard by a shift in consumer habits and a persistent manpower crunch since the pandemic. 'If we had been able to import labour sooner, I believe the recent wave of closures could have been avoided,' legislator Tommy Cheung Yu-yan, who represents the catering sector, said at a briefing. He argued that sufficient manpower was key to improving service and food quality, which had fallen behind competitors in the Greater Bay Area. The city's supplementary labour scheme was expanded last year to cover 26 roles, including waiters and junior chefs, in a bid to ease chronic staff shortages.
South China Morning Post
8 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Chinese scientists break design ‘curse' that killed US Navy's X-47B drone programme
Chinese aerospace engineers have a revolutionary software design, which they say will allow them to overcome a major barrier to stealth aircraft development The new platform allows plane designers to have as many design variables as they want without increasing computing load – a feat long deemed impossible in aviation circles. The researchers described their innovation as breaking the 'dimensionality curse' and used the US Navy's X-47B, a demonstration stealth drone, to illustrate how the system worked. Once celebrated for its carrier landings and autonomous aerial refuelling, the X-47B project was cancelled in 2015 because of unresolved trade-offs between stealth, aerodynamics and propulsion. However, the Chinese software design delivered dramatic improvements to the design with 740 variables, including measures to reduce flight drag and its radar signature, as well as improving engine thrust while maintaining airflow stability. 'Traditional global optimisation algorithms face the curse of dimensionality problem,' wrote the team led by Huang Jiangtao from the China Aerodynamics Research and Development Centre in a peer-reviewed paper published in Acta Aeronautica et Astronautica Sinica earlier this month. The shape of components such as wing leading edges and engine inlet ducts affects two crucial things: how smoothly the plane flies and how easily it can be detected by enemy radars.
South China Morning Post
8 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
HK$2,000 a month on cats? Hongkongers spending more on feline friends, poll finds
Hongkongers are increasingly pampering their pet cats, according to a survey that estimates the local market is worth HK$2.4 billion (US$305.7 million) a year thanks to owners who spend an average of about HK$2,000 a month on their feline companions. Advertisement The Exhibition Group, organiser of the Hong Kong Cat Expo 2025, said on Wednesday the annual market size had grown by 9 per cent against last year. 'The cat market in Hong Kong has continued to expand, and the consumption structure has also become more diversified,' said Shirley Chu Shuet-ling, general manager of the Exhibition Group. 'Cat owners are paying more attention to the health and quality of life of their cats, which can not only drive the development of related products such as pet food, medical products and insurance, but also promote the society's attention to animal welfare and life education.' The findings from the survey, which polled about 2,000 cat owners last month, showed that owners' average monthly spending on their cats stood at HK$2,006, up by 6.2 per cent from the HK$1,889 recorded in a similar poll last year. Advertisement On average, an owner kept two or more cats.
