TSMC Founder Morris Chang to Release Autobiography in November, Highlighting His Life at TI and TSMC

[Daniel Nenni]

---

(Photo credit: AIT)

Will the secret of the world’s top foundry finally be revealed? The second volume of the autobiography of Morris Chang, TSMC founder, is scheduled to be published on November 29th, according to the reports by Taiwanese media outlets CNA and Liberty Times.

The second volume of the book, written in Chang’s own hand and is his only biography, is said to cover his career from 1964 to 2018, dating back to his life at Texas Instruments and all the way to his retirement from TSMC, CNA notes.

Giving the readers a heads up on its website, Commonwealth Publishing, the autobiography’s publisher, cites Chang’s quote on the saga – “When I founded a semiconductor company, there was only one path: to make it a world-class one.”

Chang is regarded as the “godfather” of Taiwan’s semiconductor industry. Founding TSMC at the age of 55, Chang has led the foundry giant for more than three decades, building it into a multibillion-dollar enterprise. With its expertise at the advanced nodes, TSMC can boast to have the world’s most prestigious clientele, as it manufactures chips for tech heavyweights Intel, Samsung, NVIDIA, and Qualcomm.

The first volume of the autobiography was published in 1998, spanning nearly 100K words and covering Chang’s early days from 1931 to 1964, while the second volume is said to span around 200K words, according to Liberty Times.

Citing Chang’s previous remarks, Liberty Times notes that the second part of the autobiography would focus on the “TSMC miracle”, as well as a brief introduction of his time at U.S. electronics manufacturer General Instrument and ITRI, one of Taiwan’s major technology research institutes which pioneers Taiwan’s IC development.

According to the information compiled by Stanford University, born in China, Chang moved to Hong Kong and then to the U.S., where he attended Harvard and MIT. His employer, Texas Instruments, sent him to Stanford for his PhD in electrical engineering, which he earned in 1964.

By 1983, he had advanced to the position of group vice president overseeing TI’s global semiconductor operations before departing to take the helm at General Instrument Corp in 1984.

According to CNA, Chang resigned in 1985 and was invited to Taiwan to serve as President of the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI). In 1987, he founded TSMC. In 2005, Chang stepped down as CEO to focus on his role as Chairman, handing the position to Rick Tsai. However, in 2009, he returned as CEO while continuing as Chairman to lead TSMC in the new era.

In 2013, Morris Chang stepped down as TSMC CEO for the second time, handing over the leadership to Mark Liu and C.C. Wei. In 2018, he retired from TSMC, with Mark Liu becoming Chairman and C.C. Wei assuming the role of CEO.

Despite his retirement, TSMC’s performance has remained strong. In addition to the booming demand of 3nm and 5nm chips driven by AI, TSMC also accelerates its global expansion, including the U.S., Japan and Germany.

According to TSMC Chairman and CEO C.C. Wei’s projection in July, thanks to the strong demand from AI and smartphones for advanced nodes, 2024 will be a strong year for TSMC. The company expects this year’s revenue to increase by 24-26% (mid-20%), hitting a historical high.

[News] TSMC Founder Morris Chang to Release Autobiography in November, Highlighting His Life at TI and TSMC | TrendForce News

Will the secret of the world’s top foundry finally be revealed? The second volume of the autobiography of Morris Chang, TSMC founder, is scheduled to ...

www.trendforce.com

 

[hist78]

---

(Photo credit: AIT)

Will the secret of the world’s top foundry finally be revealed? The second volume of the autobiography of Morris Chang, TSMC founder, is scheduled to be published on November 29th, according to the reports by Taiwanese media outlets CNA and Liberty Times.

The second volume of the book, written in Chang’s own hand and is his only biography, is said to cover his career from 1964 to 2018, dating back to his life at Texas Instruments and all the way to his retirement from TSMC, CNA notes.

Giving the readers a heads up on its website, Commonwealth Publishing, the autobiography’s publisher, cites Chang’s quote on the saga – “When I founded a semiconductor company, there was only one path: to make it a world-class one.”

Chang is regarded as the “godfather” of Taiwan’s semiconductor industry. Founding TSMC at the age of 55, Chang has led the foundry giant for more than three decades, building it into a multibillion-dollar enterprise. With its expertise at the advanced nodes, TSMC can boast to have the world’s most prestigious clientele, as it manufactures chips for tech heavyweights Intel, Samsung, NVIDIA, and Qualcomm.

The first volume of the autobiography was published in 1998, spanning nearly 100K words and covering Chang’s early days from 1931 to 1964, while the second volume is said to span around 200K words, according to Liberty Times.

Citing Chang’s previous remarks, Liberty Times notes that the second part of the autobiography would focus on the “TSMC miracle”, as well as a brief introduction of his time at U.S. electronics manufacturer General Instrument and ITRI, one of Taiwan’s major technology research institutes which pioneers Taiwan’s IC development.

According to the information compiled by Stanford University, born in China, Chang moved to Hong Kong and then to the U.S., where he attended Harvard and MIT. His employer, Texas Instruments, sent him to Stanford for his PhD in electrical engineering, which he earned in 1964.

By 1983, he had advanced to the position of group vice president overseeing TI’s global semiconductor operations before departing to take the helm at General Instrument Corp in 1984.

According to CNA, Chang resigned in 1985 and was invited to Taiwan to serve as President of the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI). In 1987, he founded TSMC. In 2005, Chang stepped down as CEO to focus on his role as Chairman, handing the position to Rick Tsai. However, in 2009, he returned as CEO while continuing as Chairman to lead TSMC in the new era.

In 2013, Morris Chang stepped down as TSMC CEO for the second time, handing over the leadership to Mark Liu and C.C. Wei. In 2018, he retired from TSMC, with Mark Liu becoming Chairman and C.C. Wei assuming the role of CEO.

Despite his retirement, TSMC’s performance has remained strong. In addition to the booming demand of 3nm and 5nm chips driven by AI, TSMC also accelerates its global expansion, including the U.S., Japan and Germany.

According to TSMC Chairman and CEO C.C. Wei’s projection in July, thanks to the strong demand from AI and smartphones for advanced nodes, 2024 will be a strong year for TSMC. The company expects this year’s revenue to increase by 24-26% (mid-20%), hitting a historical high.

[News] TSMC Founder Morris Chang to Release Autobiography in November, Highlighting His Life at TI and TSMC | TrendForce News

Will the secret of the world’s top foundry finally be revealed? The second volume of the autobiography of Morris Chang, TSMC founder, is scheduled to ...

www.trendforce.com

At 93, Morris Chang is likely the last engineer, manager, and CEO from the first generation of the semiconductor industry who still speaks and writes. I can't wait to read part two of his autobiography.

 

[osnium]

---

(Photo credit: AIT)

Will the secret of the world’s top foundry finally be revealed? The second volume of the autobiography of Morris Chang, TSMC founder, is scheduled to be published on November 29th, according to the reports by Taiwanese media outlets CNA and Liberty Times.

The second volume of the book, written in Chang’s own hand and is his only biography, is said to cover his career from 1964 to 2018, dating back to his life at Texas Instruments and all the way to his retirement from TSMC, CNA notes.

Giving the readers a heads up on its website, Commonwealth Publishing, the autobiography’s publisher, cites Chang’s quote on the saga – “When I founded a semiconductor company, there was only one path: to make it a world-class one.”

Chang is regarded as the “godfather” of Taiwan’s semiconductor industry. Founding TSMC at the age of 55, Chang has led the foundry giant for more than three decades, building it into a multibillion-dollar enterprise. With its expertise at the advanced nodes, TSMC can boast to have the world’s most prestigious clientele, as it manufactures chips for tech heavyweights Intel, Samsung, NVIDIA, and Qualcomm.

The first volume of the autobiography was published in 1998, spanning nearly 100K words and covering Chang’s early days from 1931 to 1964, while the second volume is said to span around 200K words, according to Liberty Times.

Citing Chang’s previous remarks, Liberty Times notes that the second part of the autobiography would focus on the “TSMC miracle”, as well as a brief introduction of his time at U.S. electronics manufacturer General Instrument and ITRI, one of Taiwan’s major technology research institutes which pioneers Taiwan’s IC development.

According to the information compiled by Stanford University, born in China, Chang moved to Hong Kong and then to the U.S., where he attended Harvard and MIT. His employer, Texas Instruments, sent him to Stanford for his PhD in electrical engineering, which he earned in 1964.

By 1983, he had advanced to the position of group vice president overseeing TI’s global semiconductor operations before departing to take the helm at General Instrument Corp in 1984.

According to CNA, Chang resigned in 1985 and was invited to Taiwan to serve as President of the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI). In 1987, he founded TSMC. In 2005, Chang stepped down as CEO to focus on his role as Chairman, handing the position to Rick Tsai. However, in 2009, he returned as CEO while continuing as Chairman to lead TSMC in the new era.

In 2013, Morris Chang stepped down as TSMC CEO for the second time, handing over the leadership to Mark Liu and C.C. Wei. In 2018, he retired from TSMC, with Mark Liu becoming Chairman and C.C. Wei assuming the role of CEO.

Despite his retirement, TSMC’s performance has remained strong. In addition to the booming demand of 3nm and 5nm chips driven by AI, TSMC also accelerates its global expansion, including the U.S., Japan and Germany.

According to TSMC Chairman and CEO C.C. Wei’s projection in July, thanks to the strong demand from AI and smartphones for advanced nodes, 2024 will be a strong year for TSMC. The company expects this year’s revenue to increase by 24-26% (mid-20%), hitting a historical high.

[News] TSMC Founder Morris Chang to Release Autobiography in November, Highlighting His Life at TI and TSMC | TrendForce News

Will the secret of the world’s top foundry finally be revealed? The second volume of the autobiography of Morris Chang, TSMC founder, is scheduled to ...

www.trendforce.com

Given how TSMC has gotten more prominent, do you think there will be an English translation?

 

[Daniel Nenni]

Given how TSMC has gotten more prominent, do you think there will be an English translation?

Most definitely. I can’t wait to read it!

 

[Maximus]

At 93, Morris Chang is likely the last engineer, manager, and CEO from the first generation of the semiconductor industry who still speaks and writes. I can't wait to read part two of his autobiography.

The only person who has witnessed the progression from 3um to N3, and will hopefully also see A3.

 

[siliconbruh999]

The only person who has witnessed the progression from 3um to N3, and will hopefully also see A3.

Gordon Moore has seen N3 as well iirc

 

[Maximus]

Gordon Moore has seen N3 as well iirc

True. Unfortunately he only got to see N3 HVM but not Intel 3.

 

[Xebec]

Is it safe to assume there will be a version published in English? I'd definitely like to read this for the history lessons and general wisdom.

 

[Xebec]

The only person who has witnessed the progression from 3um to N3, and will hopefully also see A3.

Jerry Sanders (Fairchild, AMD) is still around - not nearly as involved as Morris Chang these days but he's was there are the beginning. He received his BS in EE in 1958.

 

[hist78]

Jerry Sanders (Fairchild, AMD) is still around - not nearly as involved as Morris Chang these days but he's was there are the beginning. He received his BS in EE in 1958.

Yes, you're right. Jerry Sanders is still alive, but he rarely speaks publicly (I couldn't find any instances) or has been interviewed in over 10 years. I hope @Daniel Nenni can find a way to interview him if Jerry is available. Jerry Sanders' professional career represents an important chapter in the history of the semiconductor industry.

 

[hist78]

In the meantime, for those who wants to learn more about Morris Chang, Fabless, and Foundry business model, this 2008 interview by Alan Patterson for the Computer History Museum is a good read.

"Patterson: So we sort of paused here in the pure-play foundry business. You were about to make this presentation to K.T. Lee, so what was it that made you decide to go into the dedicated foundry business at this point?

Chang: Well, I already mentioned the one thread, which was Carver Mead's writings, and so on. And another thread was what I had already observed, closely observed, for three decades. I mean, I had been in the semiconductor business for three decades before I came to Taiwan. And I knew, I learned, at close quarters how competitive the field was, the industry was, and how good some of the players were, companies like Intel, Texas Instruments. Even then the Japanese companies were very fierce also. So I knew how competitive it was, and how difficult it would be to carve out a niche for a new Taiwan company. So that was the second thread of thought. The third thread of thought was I paused to try to examine what we have got in Taiwan. And my conclusion was that very little, you know. What strengths have we got? The conclusion was very little. We had no strength in research and development, or very little anyway. We had no strength in circuit design, product design, IC product design. We had little strength in sales and marketing, and we had almost no strength in intellectual property. The only possible strength that Taiwan had, and even that was a potential one, not an obvious one, was semiconductor manufacturing, wafer manufacturing. And so what kind of company would you create to fit that strength and avoid all the other weaknesses? There was pure-play foundry. So maybe you could call it the least evil choice. The least evil because we've got no strength in all of these and I knew how difficult it was to compete even when you have strengths. It would be impossible to compete when you really had very little strength. But if we chose a pure-play foundry business model then we at least have the manufacturing, potential manufacturing strength that we can lean on. And we also manage to avoid the other weaknesses. We have no strength in design. We have a weakness in design. Well, we don't need design as a pure-play foundry. We've got no strength in sales marketing. Well, sales marketing for foundries is relatively simpler than sales marketing is for a conventional IBM company. At that time the IBM model was the conventional model. In fact it was the universal model. We got no strength in IP. Well, it turns out, at that time, that process was the part that was least vulnerable to IP attacks from other companies. Most of the IP disputes were about circuit designs. So in choosing the pure-play foundry model I managed to exploit, perhaps, the only strength that Taiwan had, and managed to avoid a lot of the other weaknesses. Now, however, there was one problem with the pure-play foundry model and it was a fatal problem, it could be a fatal problem which was, "Where's the market." Well..."

Patterson: The idea really wasn't very well received in the industry at that time.

Chang: No. It was very poorly received. It was very poorly received. Well, people just dismissed it, you know, heck, "What the hell is Taiwan doing? What the hell is Morris Chang doing?" They really didn't think that it was going to go anywhere. There was no market because there was very little fabless industry, almost none. No fabless industry. So who are you going to cell these wafers to? Who are you going to manufacture the wafers for? Of course, the obvious answer was the companies that already existed at that time, the Intels, and TIs, Motorolas, and so on. Now, those companies knew that they would let you manufacture their wafers only when they didn't have the capacity, or when they didn't want to manufacture the stuff themselves anymore. Now, when they didn't have the capacity, and asked you to do the manufacturing, then as soon as they got the capacity they would stop orders to you, so it couldn't be a stable market. And when they didn't want to make the wafers anymore, well, the chance was that, I mean, it was losing money for them. The product was losing money for them. And so what do you want to do? Do you want to take over the loss, you know? And so that wouldn't be a very good market either. So the conclusion at that time, the conventional conclusion was that there was no market. Maybe this idea, this pure-play foundry idea, exploited the only strength you have, which is manufacturing, but there's no market for it. That's why it was so poorly thought of, this idea. What very few people saw, and I can't tell you that I saw the rise of the fabless industry, I only hoped for it. But I probably had better reasons to hope for it than people at Intel, and TI, and Motorola, etcetera because I was now standing outside. When I was at TI and General Instrument I saw a lot of IC designers wanting to leave and set up their own business, but the only thing, or the biggest thing that stopped them from leaving those companies was that they couldn't raise enough money to form their own company. Because at that time it was thought that every company needed manufacturing, needed wafer manufacturing, and that was the most capital intensive part of a semiconductor company, of an IC company. And I saw all those people wanting to leave, but being stopped by the lack of ability to raise a lot of money to build a wafer fab. So I thought that maybe TSMC, a pure-play foundry, could remedy that. And as a result of us being able to remedy that then those designers would successfully form their own companies, and they will become our customers, and they will constitute a stable and growing market for us. "


Source: https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102658129

 

[hist78]

In the meantime, for those who wants to learn more about Morris Chang, Fabless, and Foundry business model, this 2008 interview by Alan Patterson for the Computer History Museum is a good read.

"Patterson: So we sort of paused here in the pure-play foundry business. You were about to make this presentation to K.T. Lee, so what was it that made you decide to go into the dedicated foundry business at this point?

Chang: Well, I already mentioned the one thread, which was Carver Mead's writings, and so on. And another thread was what I had already observed, closely observed, for three decades. I mean, I had been in the semiconductor business for three decades before I came to Taiwan. And I knew, I learned, at close quarters how competitive the field was, the industry was, and how good some of the players were, companies like Intel, Texas Instruments. Even then the Japanese companies were very fierce also. So I knew how competitive it was, and how difficult it would be to carve out a niche for a new Taiwan company. So that was the second thread of thought. The third thread of thought was I paused to try to examine what we have got in Taiwan. And my conclusion was that very little, you know. What strengths have we got? The conclusion was very little. We had no strength in research and development, or very little anyway. We had no strength in circuit design, product design, IC product design. We had little strength in sales and marketing, and we had almost no strength in intellectual property. The only possible strength that Taiwan had, and even that was a potential one, not an obvious one, was semiconductor manufacturing, wafer manufacturing. And so what kind of company would you create to fitthat strength and avoid all the other weaknesses? There was pure-play foundry. So maybe you could call it the least evil choice. The least evil because we've got no strength in all of these and I knew how difficult it was to compete even when you have strengths. It would be impossible to compete when you really had very little strength. But if we chose a pure-play foundry business model then we at least have the manufacturing, potential manufacturing strength that we can lean on. And we also manage to avoid the other weaknesses. We have no strength in design. We have a weakness in design. Well, we don't need design as a pure-play foundry. We've got no strength in sales marketing. Well, sales marketing for foundries is relatively simpler than sales marketing is for a conventional IBM company. At that time the IBM model was the conventional model. In fact it was the universal model. We got no strength in IP. Well, it turns out, at that time, that process was the part that was least vulnerable to IP attacks from other companies. Most of the IP disputes were about circuit designs. So in choosing the pure-play foundry model I managed to exploit, perhaps, the only strength that Taiwan had, and managed to avoid a lot of the other weaknesses. Now, however, there was one problem with the pure-play foundry model and it was a fatal problem, it could be a fatal problem which was, "Where's the market." Well..."

Patterson: The idea really wasn't very well received in the industry at that time.

Chang: No. It was very poorly received. It was very poorly received. Well, people just dismissed it, you know, heck, "What the hell is Taiwan doing? What the hell is Morris Chang doing?" They really didn'tthink that it was going to go anywhere. There was no market because there was very little fabless industry, almost none. No fabless industry. So who are you going to cell these wafers to? Who are you going to manufacture the wafers for? Of course, the obvious answer was the companies that already existed at that time, the Intels, and TIs, Motorolas, and so on. Now, those companies knew that they would let you manufacture their wafers only when they didn't have the capacity, or when they didn't want to manufacture the stuff themselves anymore. Now, when they didn't have the capacity, and asked you to do the manufacturing, then as soon as they got the capacity they would stop orders to you, so it couldn't be a stable market. And when they didn't want to make the wafers anymore, well, the chance was that, I mean, it was losing money for them. The product was losing money for them. And so what do you want to do? Do you want to take over the loss, you know? And so that wouldn't be a very good market either. So the conclusion at that time, the conventional conclusion was that there was no market. Maybe this idea, this pure-play foundry idea, exploited the only strength you have, which is manufacturing, but there's no market for it. That's why it was so poorly thought of, this idea. What very few people saw, and I can't tell you that I saw the rise of the fabless industry, I only hoped for it. But I probably had better reasons to hope for it than people at Intel, and TI, and Motorola, etcetera because I was now standing outside. When I was at TI and General Instrument I saw a lot of IC designers wanting to leave and set up their own business, but the only thing, or the biggest thing that stopped them from leaving those companies was that they couldn't raise enough money to form their own company. Because at that time it was thought that every company needed manufacturing, needed wafer manufacturing, and that was the most capital intensive part of a semiconductor company, of an IC company. And I saw all those people wanting to leave, but being stopped by the lack of ability to raise a lot of money to build a wafer fab. So I thought that maybe TSMC, a pure-play foundry, could remedy that. And as a result of us being able to remedy that then those designers would successfully form their own companies, and they will become our customers, and they will constitute a stable and growing market for us. "


Source: https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102658129

I think most people wouldn’t believe that one of the factors contributing to TSMC’s success is that, aside from human capital, Taiwan was poor and lacked nearly all the critical resources needed for a traditional semiconductor industry.

This situation forced politicians, engineers, managers, and executives (like Morris Chang) to be extremely serious, cautious, and calculated, yet bold and creative in the paths they chose. They didn’t have the luxury of abundant funds to experiment or rely on multiple rounds of venture capital infusions.