The New York Times: Let a Thousand Ideas Flower: China Is a New Hotbed of Research

by Chris Buckley 9/13/04 (free registration req)
Initially, this seems pretty simple: the big funders of research outside of the government are outsourcing their R&D overseas to save money. It is probably more complex and the gains are perhaps not all that they had hoped. First, we may be encouraging this with our more strict immigration policies since 2001 (look at grad student attendance). Second, one person in this article says that the IP concerns and management concerns make it like herding cats.

Still, now that it's not just manufacturing jobs leaving but creative jobs, it's definitely worth being on the radar.