The Brookings Institution has recently introduced Vying for Talent, a podcast about why competition for human talent will be increasingly more important in the conflict between the United States and China.
In this first episode entitled “Can semiconductor manufacturing return to the US?”, co-hosts Ryan Hass of the Brookings Institution and Jude Blanchette of the Center for Strategic and International Studies interviewed Dr. Morris Chang founder of TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Limited ), the world’s most valuable semiconductor company.
Dr. Morris Chang (張忠謀)
Dr. Chang was an immigrant from China who spent 25-years (1958–1983) at Texas Instruments where he rose to the rank of group vice president responsible for worldwide semiconductor business. After leaving TI and a brief career as president and COO of General Instrument Corporation, Chang went to Taiwan and founded TSMC in 1987. That period was when the US decided to increasingly outsource manufacturing capabilities to Asia. Soon TSMC became one of the world’s most profitable and valuable chip makers. Today, Chang holds dual citizenship from the Republic of China and the USA.
The current global semiconductor chip shortage, exacerbated by the pandemic and high demands for computers and other technological products, has convinced the Biden administration that a lack of semiconductor manufacturing capability is a major vulnerability in the technological competition with China. Because of this, President Biden has earmarked $50 billion for semiconductor research and manufacturing in his 1.2 trillion dollar infrastructure plan.
TSMC has been incentivised to build a plant in Arizona to produce 5 nano-meter chips in the US. The plant will be launched in 2024 with a capacity to manufacture 20,000 wafers monthly.