Keynote Address (3)
Morris Chang, Chairman and CEO, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC)
Description: When Morris Chang was launching his semiconductor company, he didn't rely on a business model -- because the concept had yet to be invented. "20 years ago," says Chang, "all we talked about in annual reports were products and services." Planning and managing relationships with customers and suppliers, central to contemporary business models, emerged organically for Chang's company, and proved critical to TSMC's success, he believes. Indeed, forging innovations in business models is often more difficult than making technological advances, which can be readily copied. "Who has made the most money?" asks Chang. In the computer industry, take Dell, which "didn't have real innovations in technology," but came up with a vastly improved way for customers to order. Or Starbucks, which has "made a $3 dollar cup of coffee out of a 50-cent cup of coffee." Chang's own TSMC, which began in 1987, scoped out the semiconductor industry, and arrived at a unique business model of manufacturing designs provided by customers who served the communications, computer and defense industries. But in this highly competitive industry, Chang has had to revise his business plan regularly, as well as stay ahead in the R&D game. "Innovations of all kinds were needed for us to survive, let alone prosper."
About the Speaker(s): The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. (TSMC) pioneered the "dedicated silicon foundry" industry and is the largest silicon foundry in the world.
Prior to his career in Taiwan, Chang was the President and Chief Operating Officer of General Instrument Corporation in 1984-1985. Before that, he served at Texas Instruments.
Chang received his B. S. and M. S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from M.I.T. in 1952 and 1953, and his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford in 1964. He received honorary doctorates from Chiao-Tung University, Ching-Hua University and Central University in Taiwan and Polytechnic University in the U.S.
Chang has received the IEEE Robert N. Noyce Award for Exceptional Contributions to Microelectronics Industry, and the "Exemplary Leadership Award" of the Fabless Semiconductor Association (FSA). He was selected by Business Week as one of the "Top 25 Managers of the Year" and "Stars of Asia" in 1998; and by BancAmerica Robertson Stephens as "One of The Most Significant Contributors in the 50 years of Semiconductor Industry" in 1998.
Chang is a member of MIT Corporation & the National Academy of Engineering and is also on the advisory boards of NYSE, Stanford University, and University of California at Berkeley.
Host(s): Sloan School of Management, MIT Sloan School of Management
credit
MIT World -- special events and lectures
