Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
100,000
U.S.
Japan
Singapore
Taiwan
China
90,000
80,000
70,000
60,000
50,000
40,000
30,000
20,000
10,000
0
1990
1995
2000
2004
FIGURE 10.9
In 1990 China's computer hardware industry was virtually nonexistent. By
2004 China had become the world's leading computer hardware-producing nation.
Some Chinese universities are becoming recognized for their research expertise. For
example, the Institute of Computing Technology at the Chinese Academy of Science
and Tsinghua University have been actively involved in the development of the Open64
optimizing compiler [59].
More evidence of global competition comes from the annual Association for Com-
puting Machinery International Collegiate Programming Contest. When the contest be-
gan 29 years ago, only schools from North America and Europe competed. Today it is a
truly international competition. In fact, no American team has placed first since Harvey
Mudd College in 1997. In the five-year period from 2009 through 2013, only one of the
20 teams earning medals was from the United States [60].
During the deep recession of 2008 and 2009, American corporations like Microsoft,
General Electric, JPMorgan Chase, and Best Buy continued “offshoring” white-collar
jobs to India and other countries in order reduce their cost of doing business [61].
The
digital divide
refers to the situation in which some people have access to modern
information technology while others do not. The underlying assumption motivating the
term is that people who use cell phones, computers, and the Internet have opportunities
