On October 26th, at the TSMC Sports Day, Morris Chang, the founder of TSMC, emphasized that due to TSMC's success, it has become a highly contested area, and now it has truly become a battleground for all. He once again proclaimed that globalization is dead and free trade in the world is dead, and TSMC is about to face the most severe challenges.
On the day of the sports day, in response to Morris Chang's assertion of the upcoming severe challenges, CEO C.C. Wei stated that the company is fully confident in enhancing its technological leadership position and reiterated that the progress of its new chip factory in Arizona is "going smoothly." Wei said that TSMC now plays an even more crucial role in the global chip industry.
Morris Chang's such remarks were made against the backdrop that the company is about to face the "most severe" growth challenges under the situation where the United States controls the circulation of advanced chips to China.
He had already mentioned this concept back in 2019. "Free trade in semiconductors, especially the most advanced ones, has come to an end. In such an environment, our challenge lies in how to continue to drive growth." As the major chip supplier for Apple Inc. and NVIDIA Corporation, TSMC manufactures 99% of the world's AI accelerators. It is expected that the company will benefit from the strong demand for artificial intelligence this year and achieve record-high revenues. Since OpenAI launched ChatGPT at the end of 2022, its stock price has nearly tripled.
Nevertheless, due to the cooperation between the United States and its allies such as Japan and the Netherlands to restrict China's access to cutting-edge chips and equipment, TSMC is prohibited from manufacturing the most powerful artificial intelligence chips for Chinese customers.
However, China still accounts for more than 10% of TSMC's revenue. When Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., a Chinese tech giant, was still a TSMC customer before 2020, the Taiwanese chipmaker once relied on the sales revenue from the Chinese market, which once reached about 20%.
In September 2020, after the United States banned all chip manufacturers using even the slightest amount of American technology from doing business with Huawei without Washington's approval, TSMC had no choice but to stop supplying goods to Huawei.
Morris Chang: TSMC Faces the Most Severe Challenges
On October 26th, at the TSMC Sports Day, Morris Chang, the founder of TSMC, emphasized that due to TSMC's success, it has become a highly contested area, and now it has truly become a battleground for all. He once again proclaimed that globalization is de
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