Morris Chang

Morris Chang — founding chairman of Taiwan Semiconductor

Morris Chang is the founding chairman of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), a pioneer of the dedicated integrated circuit foundry model. TSMC is the world’s largest silicon foundry.

Born in China, Chang moved to Hong Kong during the Chinese Civil War and then to the U.S., where he attended Harvard and MIT. His employer, Texas Instruments, sent him to Stanford for his PhD in electrical engineering, which he earned in 1964.

Change returned to TI and devised the strategy of pricing semiconductors aggressively — sacrificing early profits to gain market share and long-term profits. By 1983, he had risen to group vice president responsible for TI’s global semiconductor business before leaving to lead General Instrument Corp. and, later, TSMC.