hist78
Well-known member
"At the time, TSMC had been playing catch-up for too long. We had equipment that was just as good, but our competitors were making next-gen products while we were stuck in the last generation."
Interview with the Father of Immersion Lithography Who Put TSMC on the Map
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The article is pretty poorly written or translated. The "single handedly extented Moore's Law by 6 generations" statement is sensationalistic. He made the intial and most important contribution to immersion.
This is nice bio
This is nice bio
hist78
Well-known member
Dr. Burn Lin is a very interesting person. After Morris Chang returned to TSMC as the CEO the third time in 2009, he asked Dr. Shang-Yi Chiang (TSMC CTO) to come out from his retirement and back to TSMC to lead its R&D. Dr. Shang-Yi Chiang accepted Morris' invitation but quickly he found out there is a problem, Bun Lin was going to retire from TSMC soon.
According to Dr. Shang-Yi Chiang's account, he successfully convinced Brun Lin to stay and agreed with one condition set by Burn. Burn Lin is a devout Christian and he asked Shang-Yi Chiang (CTO) and Morris Chang (CEO) to listen to his Christian sermons from time to time. This was the criteria for Burn LIn to work for TSMC longer.
Let's assume there is a talented Intel R&D director who was asked to delay his/her retirement after Pat Gelsinger came back to Intel as the CEO. This R&D director agreed under the condition that Intel CTO Greg Lavender and Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger must attend his/her Buddhism teaching occasionally. I don't know what would have happened.
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What if Pat Gelsinger invited Dr. Burn Lin to join Intel to help give guidance to the fab side and also to participate in a joint Bible study class?Dr. Burn Lin is a very interesting person. After Morris Chang returned to TSMC as the CEO the third time in 2009, he asked Dr. Shang-Yi Chiang (TSMC CTO) to come out from his retirement and back to TSMC to lead its R&D. Dr. Shang-Yi Chiang accepted Morris' invitation but quickly he found out there is a problem, Bun Lin was going to retire from TSMC soon.
According to Dr. Shang-Yi Chiang's account, he successfully convinced Brun Lin to stay and agreed with one condition set by Burn. Burn Lin is a devoted Christian and he asked Shang-Yi Chiang (CTO) and Morris Chang (CEO) to listen to his Christian sermons from time to time. This was the criteria for Burn LIn to work for TSMC longer.
Let's assume there is a talented Intel R&D director who was asked to delay his/her retirement after Pat Gelsinger came back to Intel as the CEO. This R&D director agreed under the condition that Intel CTO Greg Lavender and Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger must attend his/her Buddhism teaching occasionally. I don't know what would have happened.
hist78
Well-known member
The thing is this would not fly in America at all. Compare the amount of things an average boss goes along with in Taiwan vs. American bosses. Career C-levels in America seemingly can't developer that understanding that most of things in the business cannot be bought or sold at all.
Small business entrepreneurs have that, but as you go higher, people don't understand how hard it is to find a motivated No. 2 person to run the business. They call an executive search company, and think that it's about right amount of money.
You need people with self-interest. The "mercenary" minded people lack that, aside from being impermanent, and opportunistic. Such flying generals often end up being a net negative for the business in the end.
hist78
Well-known member
Dr. Burn Lin is the person who helped TSMC to build its team and R&D strength in litho. At his retirement in 2015, TSMC's had 700 persons working on litho R&D already. It partially explained why TSMC's progress and leading position in litho.
It is interesting to listen to him in a more private session, had that opportunity when he visited Phoenix this past year.