Japan’s largest semiconductor makers, from Toshiba to Sony, have warned that a shortage of engineers is threatening the government’s efforts to revive the domestic chip industry.

The expected labor crisis comes as Japan works to increase investment in the semiconductor sector as part of efforts to bolster its economic security amid the chip shortage caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

In an address to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry last month, the electronics industry group said that over the next few years, Japan has the best chance of regaining its position in the semiconductor market.

The Japan Electronics and Information Technology Manufacturers Association said the sector’s success depends on attracting enough people to innovate and run chip factories. It is estimated that eight major manufacturers will need to hire about 35,000 engineers over the next 10 years to keep up with the pace of investment.

“It is often said that there is not enough chips, but most of all, there is not enough engineers,” said Hideki Wakabayashi, a professor at the University of Tokyo and head of the policy proposal task force at the JEITA Semiconductor Committee.

To support innovation and search for potential employees, Toshiba, Sony and other companies are collaborating with the best scientific departments across the country and investing additional resources in chip research and recruitment.

Xiaomi is preparing to release a new budget smartphone in the near future, which will be called the Redmi 10 Prime Plus 5G. The novelty was spotted in the database of the popular test application GeekBench, which confirmed the key characteristics.

The smartphone is expected to be an upgraded version of the Redmi Note 11E 5G series model launched earlier this year. The device scored 198 points in the single-core test and 1179 points in the multi-core test.

This device is powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 700 SoC with Mali G57 GPU along with 4GB of RAM. Presumably, the amount of flash memory will be 64 or 128 GB. The certification also confirmed that the Redmi 10 Prime Plus 5G will run MIUI 13 based on Android 12.

The smartphone is expected to feature a 6.58-inch FHD+ display with a 90Hz refresh rate. The main camera will include a 50-megapixel main and 2-megapixel portrait image sensors. The battery capacity will be 5000 mAh, the smartphone will support 18W fast charging.

Cubot has announced the start of sales of a miniature Cubot Pocket smartphone, which is offered at a price of $110 on Aliexpress with worldwide delivery.

Cubot Pocket is equipped with a Unisoc Tiger T310 quad-core single-chip system, 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of internal flash memory. In addition, it supports TF cards, allowing you to expand the memory by 128 GB.

The phone is equipped with a 3000 mAh battery and runs on Android 11. In addition, it is equipped with an NFC module. In terms of connectivity, it supports Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, OTG and GPS, GLONASS, BEIDOU.

The main feature of the device is its size: Cubot Pocket is equipped with a 4-inch FHD + display, so it fits easily even in a small palm. It is small enough to fit even in the pocket of skinny jeans.