Source：CommonWealth Magazine
TSMC's U.S. expansion is spearheaded by Ying-Lang Wang, Vice President of Operations and CEO of TSMC Arizona, who played a pivotal role during a recent press conference addressing concerns about technology transfer. TSMC President C.C. Wei assured that core R&D for advanced 2nm and 1nm technologies remains in Taiwan. As TSMC continues to integrate R&D with production under Wang's leadership, it raises a critical question: How will this strategy influence the global semiconductor landscape?
On Thursday, March 6, TSMC President C.C. Wei（魏哲家） and Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te（賴清德） held a joint press conference at the Presidential Office, aiming to clarify concerns over TSMC’s expanding investments in the United States.
A key point in Wei’s remarks was explaining what exactly the "R&D center" in the U.S. would entail. Would it lead to the outflow of TSMC’s advanced technologies and cause Taiwan’s semiconductor industry to hollow out?
Wei clarified that the so-called R&D center is merely a rebranding of production line personnel responsible for process improvements—a team of 1,000 people. The true R&D center, focused on developing 2nm and 1nm process technologies, remains in Taiwan with a workforce of 10,000 people.
At this point, political journalists and the general public might have been confused.
After all, isn’t a wafer fab’s production line supposed to faithfully execute the process recipes developed by the R&D team? Why would production engineers themselves need to do "R&D"?
Wei explained: "The biggest difference between TSMC’s production lines and our competitors' is that once we start production, we continuously push ourselves to improve and innovate. I’ll say it bluntly—our competitors don’t have this capability!"
The person who best embodies this "dual-wielding" model—where production and R&D advance in tandem—is a rising star at TSMC: Ying-Lang Wang, Vice President of Operations and CEO of TSMC Arizona.
At 57 years old, he is TSMC’s first VP from the ’60s generation (born in the 1960s).
Ying-Lang Wang, TSMC’s Vice President of Operations and CEO of TSMC Arizona, attended the opening ceremony of ASML EUV training center. Source: CommonWealth Magazine
Master of Both Production and R&D
Ying-Lang Wang has long overseen TSMC’s fabs in Southern Taiwan Science Park, the center for 5nm and 3nm production—a critical growth driver that helped TSMC pull ahead of Intel and Samsung in recent years.
In April 2023, he was urgently sent to the U.S. to take over the troubled Arizona fab, successfully leading the team to begin mass production of 4nm chips earlier this year.
A formidable leader in fab construction and mass production, Wang is also a research powerhouse, having published over 300 papers and holding nearly 300 patents, rivaling even dedicated R&D professionals.
Wang earned his undergraduate degree in Physics from National Tsing Hua University and a master’s degree in Materials Science from National Sun Yat-sen University. While working as a process engineer at TSMC, he pursued an in-service Ph.D. in Electronics at National Chiao Tung University, making him Taiwan’s first Ph.D. specializing in Chemical Mechanical Planarization (CMP) processes.
A former colleague shared an insight: Most process engineers spend their time on call, handling fab operations and troubleshooting issues. When they have some spare time after paperwork, they might think about process improvements. If they’re exceptionally dedicated, they might write papers or apply for patents—but those cases are rare.
But Wang was different.
(Continue reading the full story on Tech Taiwan Substack.)