Wow! Can't believe that I hadn't read this before. Morris Chang obviously very competent and then some, but also extraordinarily arrogant!! As if the only place leading edge work can be done - effectively & efficiently - is in Taiwan. Because of their strong culture!? I'm pretty sure this is the one that emulated silicon valley and now does it so much better in many ways. But they hardly have exclusive capabilities in this regard and will struggle to find engineers in any area that they expand into, including the US. Also completely dismisses Intel in the technology race as if China is a more imminent (technology) threat - this is laughable unless it includes their military threat.
Not sure if it is simply just lazy reporting or commentary, but the statement that "the current global chip shortage, caused in large part by previous US president Donald Trump’s tech war against China" is not even close to accurate. Not even sure it's a factor in the shortage situation. Definitely a factor in longer term supply & manufacturing concerns, to be sure, but for current supply constraints I've not seen anything that would suggest this is even a minor factor. So if we make more chips in China, we wouldn't have a supply issue? Nonsense! It would simply be higher risk, and they're adding capacity for their own usage, not to export & supply the world. Their aim is to control their own supply needs, and the technology (leading edge) for advanced devices. China could not care less about the world's chip supply shortage and is not a major part of any global solution of such a shortage.
This is of course simply IMHO.
Hold your horse, Please!
This Asia Times report is based on a speech Dr. Chang gave in the late April and has discussed in another thread:
https://wccftech.com/tsmc-founder-intels-fab-push-is-ironic-taiwan-engineers-more-devoted-than-americans/ Morris Chang full speech: (Chinese) I watch his full speech. I gotta say, Chang is quite accurate in pointing out his competitors. Chang said China is at least 5 years behind TSMC and 1...
semiwiki.com
Unfortunately, there are some factual errors, omission, and misleading information with this Asia Times article.
1. Fact: Morris Chang did not say anything against the TSMC Arizona project. As matter of fact, this speech was given in a forum about the future of Taiwan's economy. It's not about the new TSMC fab in US.
2. Fact: Because this is the forum about Taiwan's economic development, Dr. Chang described how TSMC established and how it grows to become an important player in semiconductor industry. He described those factors that help TSMC throughout the years. It will be kind of stretch if someone picks every his talking point as if he looks down on US or the world.
3. Dr. Chang said a top gun TSMC manager might not perform well in other countries and vice versa. He used himself as an example. He told the audience he struggled when he went to Taiwan to lead organizations (first at ITRI and later TSMC, my own comment) even he had thirty years management experience at two much larger US companies, Texas Instruments and General Instruments. What he tried to communicate is the importance of adapting to local environment and hiring and growing local talents. I don't see he was trying to insult anyone.
4. Asia Times said:
" TSMC has profited immensely from the current global chip shortage, caused in large part by previous US president Donald Trump’s tech war against China."
First: I think more close to truth is that TSMC benefits largely because the surging demand due to the Covid-19, remote access/working from home, high performance computing, AI/ML, 5G, and gaming. The widely cited automobile semiconductors business contributed only 3% of TSMC 2020 revenue and 4% of 1Q2021 revenue.
Second: In the speech Dr. Chang
did not say the semiconductor shortage is caused by the sanction against China. Actually I don't think he discussed anything about the semiconductor shortage at all.
The sanction triggered semiconductors shortage is purely the Asia Times reporter's own speculation, not Dr. Chang's.
5. Because most audience in the forum were not from the semiconductor industry, Dr. Chang spent about half amount of this one-hour speech on the history of transistors, IC, and semiconductors. He described the early days of starting TSMC. Back then the good situation for TSMC was that there wasn't any competitors but at the same time TSMC didn't have customers either.
While many news media reported that Dr. Chang said it's ironic for Intel to start foundry business again, they failed to mention another important part.
Dr. Chang said Intel had opportunity to become one of the TSMC's founding investors but Intel chose not to participate it. It's because Intel couldn't see the foundry model can scale up to become a large business and generate significant revenue and profit, Dr. Chang suggested. Furthermore Dr. Chang told the audience that Intel's Gordon Moore and Andy Grove sent several orders to TSMC to help their old friend Morris. He said that's really a big help from his friends at Intel during TSMC's early days.
6. The Asia Times said there is only one westerner on the TSMC's board. Not only that article's TSMC board URL link connects readers to a wrong page, but also the writer got the number wrong.
Among the nine-member TSMC board of directors, one is former Applied Materials Chairman (US), another one is NXP's Chairman (UK), and the third one is the former Xilinx's CEO (US/Israel).
7. The Asia Times said "
new $12 billion fabrication plant in Phoenix, Arizona, which he and other senior executives and American officials had broken ground on less than a year ago. "
It's the writer's own imagination. First, TSMC bought the 1,129 acres of North Phoenix land very late last year on December 9, 2020. Second, It's impossible and dangerous for 89 years old Morris Chang to travel from Taiwan to US during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic last year, just for a ceremony?!
8. It's been discussed in another thread about the comparison between US and Taiwan's engineers, technicians, and production line workers.
https://wccftech.com/tsmc-founder-intels-fab-push-is-ironic-taiwan-engineers-more-devoted-than-americans/ Morris Chang full speech: (Chinese) I watch his full speech. I gotta say, Chang is quite accurate in pointing out his competitors. Chang said China is at least 5 years behind TSMC and 1...
semiwiki.com
"If we put his words in the context of the whole speech, I believe what Dr. Chang meant is that Taiwanese engineers, technicians, and production line workers are more willing to work in the "manufacturing" business, in comparison to current US situation.
Honestly, in US it's the reality that many jobs in the manufacturing sector are less glamour, less income, and less quick rewards than jobs at Google, Amazon, hedge funds, financial investment, or business consulting."
9. For those people who know Chinese, please watch the video of Dr. Chang's speech at the link below. Or you can find a person to translate it for you.
It's an interesting one-hour talk. Dr. Chang recalled one December day after the annual IEDM conference at D.C., Robert Noyce (31), Gordon Moore (29), and Morris Chang (27) went drinking and dinner. Dr. Chang said "We were all young and feel very happy and lucky to work in the new and exciting semiconductors industry. After the dinner we three sang and walked back to the hotel while snow was dropping from the sky."