When looking at TSMC, not only performance but also other things are the opposite of Samsung Electronics.

All three previous presidents of TSMC are former U.S. electrical engineering doctors. At the conference call, the chairman comes out with the CFO to answer all questions directly. The stock value of the presidents, who are professional managers, is at least 300 billion won or 500 billion won.

It is also interesting to say that it did not make sense for Dr. Lisa Su of AMD to work after listening to Harvard MBA instructions. Not only TSMC, but also Nvidia and AMD are Taiwanese-American CEOs, and they have considerable Taiwanese power in the global semiconductor industry. There are many things we need to see and learn.

From left to right, Chairman Weijerja, First Chairman Maurice Chang, Former Chairman Liu Dein

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AI and high-tech questions without being blocked…What TSMC’s former and current chairmen have in common

Taiwan foundry (semiconductor consignment production) company TSMC has emerged as the top beneficiary of the AI craze along with Nvidia.

When TSMC announced on the 17th that its third-quarter net profit jumped 54.2% from last year to $325.3 billion (about 14 trillion won), TSMC’s stock deposit certificate (ADR) soared 10% on the New York Stock Exchange, rapidly exceeding $1 trillion in market capitalization.

TSMC ADR shares, which were only $13.07 in early January 2011, rose more than 15 times to $200.86 on the 23rd, and TSMC has been reborn as a leading global semiconductor company from a Taiwanese semiconductor company. TSMC exclusively produces Nvidia’s AI chips and is an exclusive supplier of the ‘A18’ chips that are installed in Apple’s ‘iPhone 16’ series.

According to recent Taiwanese media such as the Economic Daily, TSMC plays an important role in Taiwan’s economy, with all of the top three headlines being TSMC articles. As Nvidia, led by Taiwanese-American Jensen Huang, also appears frequently in the Taiwanese media, Taiwan’s influence in the global semiconductor industry is palpable.

1. The reason for the success of TSMC is the technical management of the chairman who was a doctor in electrical engineering

What is the reason for TSMC’s success? There are many reasons, but it is largely attributable to top management who graduated from an engineering doctor. Maurice Chang (first president), Ryu De-in (second president), and Weijerja (third president) are doctors in electrical engineering at prestigious U.S. universities (Stanford, U.C., Berkeley, and Yale) and started working at TSMC. Not to mention the understanding of semiconductor technology, it is also beneficial for TSMC to collaborate with U.S. semiconductor companies.

In a conference call held after the announcement of TSMC’s third-quarter earnings on the 17th, Chairman Wei, who is not only chairman but also CEO, came out and answered questions directly from Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan analysts.

Unlike Chairman Liu Dein, whose English pronunciation is at the level of a native speaker, Chairman Wei felt a strong accent, but he answered questions about AI demand, Chiplet and Chip-on-Wafer-on-Substrate (CoWoS) advanced packaging without hesitation.

When asked if the demand for 2 nano (N2) process will decrease due to the chiplet, a technology that connects each semiconductor to increase performance, Wei replied, “Customers are very interested in 2 nano and demand is expected to be greater than 3 nano (N3).

Regarding CoWos, which Nvidia reportedly demanded to expand its facilities, Wei said that while expanding CoWoS facilities, demand from customers is so high that doubling it does not meet demand. CoWoS is an advanced packaging technology developed by TSMC, and most of Nvidia’s AI chips are made of CoWoS technology.

When it comes to technology management, AMD President Lisa Su, who is Taiwanese-American and is indispensable when talking about Taiwan’s semiconductor power, also said something interesting. In a speech at the MIT PhD award ceremony in 2017, Lisa Su, a doctor in electrical engineering at MIT, said, “I didn’t understand why MIT doctors had to work under Harvard MBA,” and later took office as AMD’s CEO and led technology management.

2. TSMC Chairmen Are Stock-Coded

TSMC’s stock options are also notable. TSMC was founded in 1987 by Maurice Chang, who worked for Texas Instruments (TI) for 25 years after immigrating to the U.S., at the age of 56, when others will retire. At that time, the Taiwanese government invested 48.3 percent of the capital, while Philips of the Netherlands received 27.5 percent of the capital through technology investment, while the rest was 24.2 percent invested by a Taiwanese private company.

Morris Chang owns about 0.48% of TSMC through stock options, and the value of its holdings has soared to about 5.674 trillion won due to the recent surge in TSMC shares.

Although it is less than the first chairman, Maurice Chang, former chairman Liu Dein holds about 12.96 million TSMC shares. Based on the closing price of TSMC in Taiwan’s stock market on the 24th, the value of Chairman Liu’s stake is 590 billion won. It is smaller than Morris Chang, but it is a considerable amount for a professional manager.

The number of TSMC shares held by Chairman Wei is 7.1 million, less than that of Chairman Ryu, with a value of about 323 billion won in holdings.

TSMC’s growth is directly linked to not only professional success but also to the increase in personal wealth, as professional managers have become to hold many shares in the company through the stock option system. This is one of the reasons why Chairman Wei has no choice but to work harder.