Page 170 - How China Is Winning the Tech Race

information technology. If that happens, it could help China and the world
solve major energy and environmental problems.
Youngish-looking at age 44, the Chinese-born and -educated scientist
often is referred to as Professor Jiang because he still teaches at the large
science-focused university when he is not inventing the light of tomorrow.
Jiang has an Einsteinian aura but follows in the footsteps of the practical-
minded inventor Thomas Edison, who would crawl into his roll-top desk, curl
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up, and nap after marathon work sessions. Jiang nods on a cot behind a
divider in his private office, often staying overnight to work in his nearby lab.
The Chinese scientist’s life’s work is focused on making LEDs (light-
emitting diodes), which are lights charged by semiconductors. This highly
specialized research is concentrated in only a handful of laboratories, insti-
tutions, and companies worldwide and includes such trailblazers as Nichia
Corporation in Tokushima on Japan’s main island of Shikoku and the
Nasdaq-listed Cree Inc. in Durham, North Carolina. 2
On my visit to Nanchang in May 2007, I toured the firm’s new pro-
duction facility, which is the size of 50 soccer fields. Sunburned construction
workers resided in on-site dormitories, cows grazed in a nearby pasture, and
bricks were being transported by wheelbarrow. Nanchang is one of four cities
in China tapped by the government as a base for developing this new type of
lighting and making China—not Taiwan—the world’s largest producer of
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LEDs. The land for building the plant, on the outskirts of town, was pur-
chased from the government at a favorable price. Tax breaks were tossed in
as incentives to turn the open acreage into a glistening high-tech development
zone in Jiangxi province’s capital city.
Until recently, production was limited to a single line at the university lab.
To enter this secret chamber, I donned sanitized coveralls, hat, and gloves and
passed through a so-called air shower to get rid of any remaining dust or par-
ticles. Once inside, I saw a digital display board lit up in LEDs, several bulky
mainframe-type computers, and uniformed workers behind glass booths
blending physics, chemistry, and semiconductor technology. I was not allowed
to take photographs.
Jiang and his laboratory symbolize the high priority the Chinese gov-
ernment has placed on developing LEDs. China’s Ministry of Science and
Technology is spearheading a new multifaceted national LED push that is
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budgeted at $44 million to develop high tech as a pillar of economic growth 6

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