Morris Chang

Morris Chang
總統府 · CC BY 2.0 · source
Name	Morris Chang
Birth date	1931-07-10
Birth place	Nanking, Republic of China
Nationality	Taiwanese
Occupation	Electrical engineer, business executive
Known for	Founder and former chairman of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company

Morris Chang

Morris Chang is a Taiwanese engineer and businessperson best known as the founder and long-time chairman of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). He played a central role in the global semiconductor industry transformation through the foundry model, influencing firms such as Intel, Advanced Micro Devices, NVIDIA, Qualcomm, and Apple Inc. His career spans major institutions including Texas Instruments, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Taiwanese governmental initiatives such as the Industrial Technology Research Institute.

Early life and education

Born in Nanking in 1931 during the Second Sino-Japanese War era, he emigrated with his family amid the Chinese Civil War period to Shanghai and later to Hong Kong and Taiwan. He attended Taipei Municipal Jianguo High School before moving to the United States to study at Harvard College, where he earned a degree in applied mathematics. He continued graduate studies at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, obtaining a doctorate in electrical engineering under the influence of faculty connected to Bell Labs and the postwar American research university system. During his formative years he was exposed to leaders from IBM, Bell Telephone Laboratories, General Electric, and the emerging Silicon Valley ecosystem.

Career beginnings and leadership at Texas Instruments

After completing his doctorate, he joined Sylvania Electric Products and later moved to Texas Instruments (TI) in the 1960s. At TI, he climbed through engineering and management ranks, interacting with groups such as the Semiconductor Research Corporation and collaborating with engineers from Fairchild Semiconductor, AMD, and National Semiconductor. He led large-scale projects in integrated circuit development and became a senior executive overseeing global manufacturing, liaising with operations in Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Malaysia. His tenure at TI overlapped with contemporaries like Jack Kilby and industry events such as the 1970s oil crisis that reshaped supply chains and prompted executives from Motorola and Intel to reconsider production strategies.

Founding and growth of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC)

Invited by the government of Taiwan and advised by the Industrial Technology Research Institute, he founded TSMC in 1987 as a pure-play foundry—separating manufacturing from design—to serve fabless firms such as Xilinx, Broadcom, and Lattice Semiconductor. He negotiated partnerships and joint ventures with Hitachi, Philips, and Sun Microsystems-era collaborators, attracting investment from entities like Mercuries & Associates and linking with global capital markets via listings on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. Under his leadership, TSMC scaled capacity across fabs in Hsinchu Science Park, Taichung, and later international sites in Singapore and potential projects in Arizona and Germany. He steered technological roadmaps aligning with standards bodies such as Joint Electron Device Engineering Council and suppliers like Applied Materials, ASML, and Tokyo Electron. The company's rise fueled ecosystems for TSMC customers including Apple Inc. and NVIDIA and reconfigured competitive dynamics with Intel and Samsung Electronics.

Business philosophy and industry impact

His philosophy emphasized specialization, capital efficiency, and collaboration among stakeholders including universities like National Tsing Hua University and National Chiao Tung University, research institutes such as Industrial Technology Research Institute, and multinational firms including Qualcomm and Broadcom. He advocated the foundry model that enabled the growth of fabless semiconductor companies and reshaped global supply chains involving South Korea, Japan, United States, and Europe. Analysts from Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and McKinsey & Company credited his strategic choices with accelerating Moore's Law scaling through focused investments in leading-edge nodes, extreme ultraviolet lithography from ASML, and advanced packaging techniques. His leadership influenced policy discussions in capitals such as Taipei, Washington, D.C., Beijing, and Brussels regarding technology sovereignty, export controls like those involving Bureau of Industry and Security, and industrial subsidies inspired by programs similar to the CHIPS and Science Act.

Awards, honors, and recognitions

He received numerous accolades from academic, governmental, and industry organizations, including honors linked to institutions such as Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, National Chengchi University, and awards conferred by entities like the IEEE, SEMICON associations, and national orders from Taiwan and allied states. Global business publications including Fortune (magazine), Forbes, and The Wall Street Journal have profiled him among influential executives alongside figures such as Andy Grove, Steve Jobs, and Hyman Minsky-mentioned innovators. He has been invited to deliver speeches at venues including World Economic Forum gatherings, Harvard Business School forums, and forums hosted by the Asian Development Bank.

Personal life and philanthropy

He maintained close ties to educational institutions such as Harvard University and Taiwanese universities, funding scholarships and endowments in science and engineering, working with foundations related to National Taiwan University and cultural institutions like the Taipei Philharmonic and museum initiatives in Taipei. His family engaged in philanthropy in areas connected to medical research, engineering education, and disaster relief collaborations with organizations active in Southeast Asia and Eastern China. He has met with global leaders and policymakers including delegations from United States, Japan, and European Union institutions to discuss industrial strategy and innovation policy.

Category:Taiwanese businesspeople Category:Electrical engineers Category:1931 births Category:Living people