Managers' Forum ~ Book Reviews
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and Mr.Morris Chang
Reviewed by: Shih-Chung Lin
I read the book “TSMC and Mr. Morris Chang”. This book
talks about Mr. Morris
Chang, the Chairman of TSMC, how he built TSMC, and his business philosophy.
Mr. Chang was born in China and studied in America, but he worked in
Taiwan.
It is the first Taiwanese company to list on the New York Stock Exchange.
Mr. Chang founded TSMC in 1987. TSMC was the first
pure integrated circuit
(IC) foundry company in the world. Therefore, we call Mr. Chang “ the
Father
of Semiconductor in Taiwan”. Meanwhile, Mr. Chang brought the Taiwan
market
into the computer era. For his success, the government officers of
Taiwan proclaimed
that the computer industry would be the most important business in
the next
century. Therefore, they encourage developing productions in the computer
field.
Hsin-Chu is considered Taiwan’s “Silicon Valley” where
there are many computer
companies evolving. Mr. Chang found a niche in providing manufacturing
services
for advanced ICs. He focused on OEM production and building a reputation
for
quality rather than designing and producing his own IC technology.
To establish
Taiwan’s reputation for IC technology, Mr. Chang was willing to commit
to an
OEM order from Intel at a loss. His strategy was “if we can make a
high quality
IC for Intel and let them satisfy”; we can produce for any company.
TSMC’s strategy
paid off and it beat its main competitor in Japan. Now TSMC is the
first pure
IC foundry company in the world. Meanwhile, Taiwan has become one of
the main
computer parts manufacturing countries in the world.
I think that this book is an excellent resource to help
people who want to
learn about Taiwan’s computer field, considering the fact this book
is in Chinese.
Reference: Jun Wang.; Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and
Mr. Morris
Chang; Chinatimes company, Inc.; Second, edition; 1999; ISBN 957-13-0864-1
