China’s largest chipmaker said on Nov. 11 that its Taiwanese vice-chairman has resigned in a leadership reshuffle, less than a year after he took the role, leaving its board entirely Chinese. China’s state-supported Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) said in a Nov. 11 statement (pdf) following a board meeting that Chiang Shangyi resigned as the vice-chairman as well as from the board, effective from the day, citing the reason as to spend more time with his family. In late 2016, Chiang, a then-retired research director at the world’s largest and most advanced contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), joined Shanghai-based SMIC as an independent board member. Despite SMIC being considered China’s largest and most advanced chipmaker, a previous Financial Times report found it could lag up to two generations behind industry leaders in process technology and wafer sizes. Beijing was eager to increase domestic self-sufficiency over semiconductor manufacturing and reduce …