EGN NEWS DESK
Groundbreaking technologist Morris Chang ’52, SM ’53 mentioned the important thing components behind Taiwan’s long-term ascendancy in semiconductor manufacturing, whereas talking to a big campus viewers in an MIT speak on Tuesday.
Chang is the influential founder and former longtime head of TSMC, the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, which has develop into the world’s main microchip maker. Chang began the agency in 1987, and since then it has helped reshape the business by making Taiwan a vital middle of manufacturing and by specializing in manufacturing whereas chip design happens elsewhere.
In his remarks, Chang, whose profession spans the historical past of the semiconductor business, gave a broad overview of the event of chip manufacturing, then targeted on a few of the components which have helped TSMC and Taiwan thrive. In his view, this features a wholesome provide of expertise, within the type of engineers and different technical staff keen to work in manufacturing; low turnover of staff; a geographical focus of business manufacturing in Taiwan; and the “expertise curve idea,” wherein amassed manufacturing expertise results in decrease manufacturing prices.
“Why is TSMC profitable in Taiwan?” requested Chang. “Because TSMC additionally will get good, well-trained technicians, and even well-trained operators from loads of commerce faculties in Taiwan. … Their college students aspire to make an excellent dwelling as technicians.”
Chang additionally argued that the method of studying by doing, wherein producers can cut back prices by bettering their processes, is based on having manufacturing centered in a single place, with connectivity amongst employees in frequent circumstances.
“It works, the educational curve, the expertise curve, it really works solely when you have got a standard location,” Chang stated. “Learning is native.”
More broadly, Chang famous, prominence in semiconductor manufacturing “appears to be associated to the standing of financial growth of that nation. Frankly, the benefits that Taiwan enjoys in the present day … had been loved by the U.S. within the ’50s and ’60s.” Decades sooner or later, he recommended, there may very well be an increase in semiconductor exercise in India, Vietnam, or Indonesia, relying on the best way circumstances evolve.
Chang’s speak, “Lessons of a Life in Semiconductor Manufacturing, from Texas to Taiwan,” was delivered to a capability viewers of greater than 425 folks in MIT’s Room 10-250. The occasion was a part of the Manufacturing@MIT Distinguished Speaker Series.
Chang was born in China in 1931, left the nation within the late Nineteen Forties, and earned his BS and MS in mechanical engineering from MIT. He later obtained a PhD in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. Chang entered the semiconductor enterprise by taking a job at Sylvania within the mid-Fifties. He moved to Texas Instruments — then a chip-making energy — in 1958, rising to business prominence throughout a quarter-century tenure there. Chang additionally turned a U.S. citizen in 1962. In the Eighties, he was invited to work on the event of business and know-how in Taiwan, and shortly thereafter launched TSMC. Over time, TSMC has develop into a juggernaut, sustaining its success and rising to develop into the world chief within the area.
At Tuesday’s occasion, Chang was launched by MIT Provost Cynthia Barnhart, who emphasised the enduring connections he has constructed on the Institute. Chang is a life member emeritus of the MIT Corporation and has been an necessary supporter of the Institute. The renovated Building E52, which homes the Department of Economics, the Samberg Conference Center, and workplaces of the MIT Sloan School of Management, is now the Morris and Sophie Chang Building.
“For MIT, Morris is a unprecedented instance of the lasting impression our alumni have on the legacy of innovation on the Institute,” Barnhart stated.
At the top of his speak, Chang additionally briefly mentioned geopolitics and chip manufacturing. With U.S.-China relations comparatively strained, chip manufacturing is likely one of the areas the place they’re competing in industrial phrases. Meanwhile, the exact nature of China’s coverage intentions vis-à-vis Taiwan stay unsure.
“Without nationwide safety, we’ll lose every part, every part that we worth,” Chang stated. At the identical time, he famous, “By all means, let’s keep away from even a Cold War, if we will.”
The occasion was hosted by the Manufacturing@MIT Working Group, in collaboration with the School of Engineering, the Department of Mechanical Engineering, the Department of Political Science, Leaders for Global Operations, Microsystems Technology Laboratories, the Industrial Performance Center, MIT.nano, Machine Intelligence for Manufacturing and Operations, the Laboratory for Manufacturing and Productivity, and Mission Innovation X.
