Morris Chang
Co-founder 1987Background
Morris Chang was born in Ningbo, China in 1931 and emigrated to the United States as a young man, completing his undergraduate engineering education at MIT before earning a PhD in electrical engineering from Stanford in 1964. He spent 25 years at Texas Instruments, where he rose to Group Vice President and became one of the most technically respected semiconductor executives in the American industry. His experience at TI gave him deep insight into the economics and limitations of the integrated device manufacturer model, which directly informed his subsequent vision for the foundry business. After departing TI and briefly working at General Instrument, he accepted an invitation from Taiwan's government to lead the Industrial Technology Research Institute and develop a semiconductor industry strategy for the island.
Role at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company
Morris Chang is universally credited as the inventor of the pure-play semiconductor foundry business model and one of the most consequential figures in the history of the technology industry. After founding TSMC in 1987 at age 55 — an age at which most executives are contemplating retirement — he built the company from a modest government-backed startup into the most important manufacturing company on Earth. Chang served as CEO from 1987 to 2005, when he handed leadership to Rick Tsai. He returned as co-CEO in 2009 following the global financial crisis and resumed full leadership, steering TSMC through its most significant technology transitions including the development of its 20nm and 16nm FinFET processes. Chang retired as Chairman in June 2018, handing the role to Mark Liu and full operational control to current CEO C.C. Wei. Now in his nineties, Chang remains an occasional public voice on semiconductor policy and Taiwan's strategic importance to the global technology industry.