Threat, and Promise, in China's Software Industry

By Adam Davidson

Published November 9, 2005 at 12:00 AM EST

For more than a decade, American manufacturers have fretted over China's capacity for threatening their industries, from T-shirts to auto parts.

Now, many analysts say, China is poised to do the same with intellectual work. More and more Chinese companies are beginning to do advanced computer programming.

And China has the human resources to compete with the United States in the computer programming industry -- the country graduates more than 100,000 programmers each year.

Adam Davidson

Adam Davidson is a contributor to Planet Money, a co-production of NPR and This American Life. He also writes the weekly "It's the Economy" column for the New York Times Magazine.