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The Fascinating Story of TSMC: The Taiwan Company That Built the World's Best Semiconductors

Subscribe to the channel! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb0ps9eCp0y6yP1Xg4sDDFw?sub_confirmation=1 In the autumn of 1983, Texas Instruments was dumping the TI-99/4A home computer for under a hundred dollars — a machine it could not build for that price. The division that made it had lost roughly $400 million in two quarters and handed TI the first quarterly loss in its history. The executive blamed for it was a 52-year-old process engineer named Morris Chang. Two years later he was running Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute. Two years after that he founded Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company — TSMC — and quietly took over the manufacturing of the modern world. This is the full story of how TSMC became the best semiconductor manufacturer on Earth: the IBM transistor line in Dallas whose yields were "zero and stable," the 1983 home computer price war with Jack Tramiel's Commodore VIC-20, the invitation from K.T. Li that brought Chang to Hsinchu, the pure-play foundry model that nobody in the industry believed in, the $100 million of Taiwanese government money and the $58 million from Philips that started it in February 1987, Intel's qualification in 1988, and the desperate 1997 letter from a nearly bankrupt Jensen Huang that turned Nvidia into TSMC's most famous customer. We also take apart the myth that TSMC won on cheap Asian labour. It never did. It won on yield — the one thing Morris Chang was already the best in America at back in 1958 — and on a promise no integrated chipmaker could make: we will never compete with you. Today TSMC holds roughly 72% of the pure-play foundry market, runs 2-nanometre production in Kaohsiung and Hsinchu, has committed $265 billion to fabs in Arizona, and crossed $2 trillion in market value. And its name is on nothing you own. The processor in your phone, the chip in your car, your hearing aid, your router — all of it depends on immersion lithography, an idea a TSMC engineer named Burn-Jeng Lin pushed on a sceptical industry in 2002. Somebody else's logo is on the outside of every single one. If a TI-99/4A, a TI calculator, or any of these machines sat in your house, tell us the model, the year, and whether it still works. This archive is written in the comments. SOURCES Morris Chang and the Origins of TSMC — Construction Physics: https://www.construction-physics.com/p/morris-chang-and-the-origins-of-tsmc Morris Chang: Foundry Father — IEEE Spectrum: https://spectrum.ieee.org/morris-chang-foundry-father Texas Instruments Model 99/4A Microcomputer — Smithsonian National Museum of American History: https://si.edu/object/texas-instruments-model-994a-microcomputer:nmah_1064832 Morris Chang reveals the Jensen Huang letter that saved Nvidia — Benzinga: https://www.benzinga.com/tech/25/02/43517209/jensen-huang-once-wrote-a-desperate-letter-to-save-nvidia-but-also-forged-a-partnership-worth-billions-with-tsmc-morris-chang-reveals-the-story TSMC is first to commit to 193-nm immersion litho — EE Times: https://www.eetimes.com/tsmc-is-first-to-commit-to-193-nm-immersion-litho/ Morris Chang — Britannica Money: https://www.britannica.com/money/Morris-Chang Morris Chang, Fellow — Computer History Museum: https://computerhistory.org/profile/fellow-morris-chang/ The 1983 Home Computer Price War — Low End Mac: https://lowendmac.com/2016/the-1983-home-computer-price-war/ TI-99/4A — Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TI-99/4A RIVA 128 — Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIVA_128 This channel is made by an enthusiast who loves business and technology history — nothing more. All videos are for educational and entertainment purposes only and reflect my personal views and interpretations. I research each story carefully using publicly available sources, but errors or omissions can happen. Nothing here is professional, financial, or legal advice, and this channel is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any company mentioned.

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In the autumn of 1983, Texas Instruments was dumping the TI-99/4A home computer for under a hundred dollars — a machine it could not build for that price. The division that made it had lost roughly $400 million in two quarters and handed TI the first quarterly loss in its history. The executive blamed for it was a 52-year-old process engineer named Morris Chang. Two years later he was running Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute. Two years after that he founded Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company — TSMC — and quietly took over the manufacturing of the modern world.
This is the full story of how TSMC became the best semiconductor manufacturer on Earth: the IBM transistor line in Dallas whose yields were "zero and stable," the 1983 home computer price war with Jack Tramiel's Commodore VIC-20, the invitation from K.T. Li that brought Chang to Hsinchu, the pure-play foundry model that nobody in the industry believed in, the $100 million of Taiwanese government money and the $58 million from Philips that started it in February 1987, Intel's qualification in 1988, and the desperate 1997 letter from a nearly bankrupt Jensen Huang that turned Nvidia into TSMC's most famous customer.

We also take apart the myth that TSMC won on cheap Asian labour. It never did. It won on yield — the one thing Morris Chang was already the best in America at back in 1958 — and on a promise no integrated chipmaker could make: we will never compete with you.
Today TSMC holds roughly 72% of the pure-play foundry market, runs 2-nanometre production in Kaohsiung and Hsinchu, has committed $265 billion to fabs in Arizona, and crossed $2 trillion in market value. And its name is on nothing you own. The processor in your phone, the chip in your car, your hearing aid, your router — all of it depends on immersion lithography, an idea a TSMC engineer named Burn-Jeng Lin pushed on a sceptical industry in 2002. Somebody else's logo is on the outside of every single one.
If a TI-99/4A, a TI calculator, or any of these machines sat in your house, tell us the model, the year, and whether it still works. This archive is written in the comments.

SOURCES
Morris Chang and the Origins of TSMC — Construction Physics: https://www.construction-physics.com/p/morris-chang-and-the-origins-of-tsmc
Morris Chang: Foundry Father — IEEE Spectrum: https://spectrum.ieee.org/morris-chang-foundry-father
Texas Instruments Model 99/4A Microcomputer — Smithsonian National Museum of American History: https://si.edu/object/texas-instruments-model-994a-microcomputer:nmah_1064832
Morris Chang reveals the Jensen Huang letter that saved Nvidia — Benzinga: https://www.benzinga.com/tech/25/02/43517209/jensen-huang-once-wrote-a-desperate-letter-to-save-nvidia-but-also-forged-a-partnership-worth-billions-with-tsmc-morris-chang-reveals-the-story
TSMC is first to commit to 193-nm immersion litho — EE Times: https://www.eetimes.com/tsmc-is-first-to-commit-to-193-nm-immersion-litho/
Morris Chang — Britannica Money: https://www.britannica.com/money/Morris-Chang
Morris Chang, Fellow — Computer History Museum: https://computerhistory.org/profile/fellow-morris-chang/
The 1983 Home Computer Price War — Low End Mac: https://lowendmac.com/2016/the-1983-home-computer-price-war/
TI-99/4A — Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TI-99/4A
RIVA 128 — Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIVA_128

This channel is made by an enthusiast who loves business and technology history — nothing more. All videos are for educational and entertainment purposes only and reflect my personal views and interpretations. I research each story carefully using publicly available sources, but errors or omissions can happen. Nothing here is professional, financial, or legal advice, and this channel is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any company mentioned.

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Subscribe to the channel! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb0ps9eCp0y6yP1Xg4sDDFw?sub_confirmation=1 In the autumn of 1983, Texas Instruments was dumping the TI-99/4A home computer for under a hundred dollars — a machine it could not build for that price. The division that made it had lost roughly $400 million in two quarters and handed TI the first quarterly loss in its history. The executive blamed for it was a 52-year-old process engineer named Morris Chang. Two years later he was running Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute. Two years after that he founded Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company — TSMC — and quietly took over the manufacturing of the modern world. This is the full story of how TSMC became the best semiconductor manufacturer on Earth: the IBM transistor line in Dallas whose yields were "zero and stable," the 1983 home computer price war with Jack Tramiel's Commodore VIC-20, the invitation from K.T. Li that brought Chang to Hsinchu, the pure-play foundry model that nobody in the industry believed in, the $100 million of Taiwanese government money and the $58 million from Philips that started it in February 1987, Intel's qualification in 1988, and the desperate 1997 letter from a nearly bankrupt Jensen Huang that turned Nvidia into TSMC's most famous customer. We also take apart the myth that TSMC won on cheap Asian labour. It never did. It won on yield — the one thing Morris Chang was already the best in America at back in 1958 — and on a promise no integrated chipmaker could make: we will never compete with you. Today TSMC holds roughly 72% of the pure-play foundry market, runs 2-nanometre production in Kaohsiung and Hsinchu, has committed $265 billion to fabs in Arizona, and crossed $2 trillion in market value. And its name is on nothing you own. The processor in your phone, the chip in your car, your hearing aid, your router — all of it depends on immersion lithography, an idea a TSMC engineer named Burn-Jeng Lin pushed on a sceptical industry in 2002. Somebody else's logo is on the outside of every single one. If a TI-99/4A, a TI calculator, or any of these machines sat in your house, tell us the model, the year, and whether it still works. This archive is written in the comments. SOURCES Morris Chang and the Origins of TSMC — Construction Physics: https://www.construction-physics.com/p/morris-chang-and-the-origins-of-tsmc Morris Chang: Foundry Father — IEEE Spectrum: https://spectrum.ieee.org/morris-chang-foundry-father Texas Instruments Model 99/4A Microcomputer — Smithsonian National Museum of American History: https://si.edu/object/texas-instruments-model-994a-microcomputer:nmah_1064832 Morris Chang reveals the Jensen Huang letter that saved Nvidia — Benzinga: https://www.benzinga.com/tech/25/02/43517209/jensen-huang-once-wrote-a-desperate-letter-to-save-nvidia-but-also-forged-a-partnership-worth-billions-with-tsmc-morris-chang-reveals-the-story TSMC is first to commit to 193-nm immersion litho — EE Times: https://www.eetimes.com/tsmc-is-first-to-commit-to-193-nm-immersion-litho/ Morris Chang — Britannica Money: https://www.britannica.com/money/Morris-Chang Morris Chang, Fellow — Computer History Museum: https://computerhistory.org/profile/fellow-morris-chang/ The 1983 Home Computer Price War — Low End Mac: https://lowendmac.com/2016/the-1983-home-computer-price-war/ TI-99/4A — Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TI-99/4A RIVA 128 — Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIVA_128 This channel is made by an enthusiast who loves business and technology history — nothing more. All videos are for educational and entertainment purposes only and reflect my personal views and interpretations. I research each story carefully using publicly available sources, but errors or omissions can happen. Nothing here is professional, financial, or legal advice, and this channel is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any company mentioned.

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