Morris Chang's latest autobiography recounts TSMC's rise to global semiconductor leadership, highlighting its pioneering foundry model, technological innovation, and strategic vision. Through customer-focused partnerships and relentless R&D, TSMC outpaced rivals like Intel and Samsung, redefining the industry and cementing its legacy as a technological trailblazer.
english.cw.com.tw, Dec. 02, 2024 –
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) founder Morris Chang released the highly anticipated second volume of his autobiography on November 29, just before Thanksgiving. This volume, the culmination of seven years of writing, chronicles TSMC's journey from its inception to its emergence as a leader in the semiconductor foundry industry between 1964 and 2018. However, it stops short of addressing how TSMC became a geopolitical linchpin following events like the U.S.-China trade war, the COVID-19 pandemic, and global shifts toward onshoring and friend-shoring semiconductor production.
For readers newly acquainted with TSMC, a pressing question often arises: What did TSMC do to ascend to its unrivaled leadership in the global foundry market? Particularly, how did it outpace formidable competitors like Intel and Samsung?
Morris Chang addresses this in his autobiography. He credits TSMC's rise to two key factors: a pioneering business model executed to perfection and relentless innovation through proprietary technologies.
The Dedicated Foundry Model: A Game-Changing Vision
Chang's vision for TSMC emerged from a critical analysis of Taiwan's semiconductor landscape in the 1980s. Despite licensing technology from RCA in 1975 and achieving competitive yields, Taiwan struggled with a lack of IC design capability and insufficient access to global markets. Taiwan's first semiconductor spinoff, United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC), operated as an integrated device manufacturer (IDM) but failed to gain a competitive edge. By 1985, Taiwan's wafer fabrication lagged 2.5 generations behind industry leaders, with the industry evolving too rapidly for local firms to catch up.
Recognizing these challenges, Chang proposed two potential paths to the government: