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As this fragile island democracy

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fights to fend off...

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Are you willing to get involved
militarily to defend Taiwan

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00:00:37,575 --> 00:00:38,868
if it comes to that?

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U.S. President Biden:
Yes, it's the commitment we made.

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Japanese PM Kishida:
Peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait

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are vital to our country.

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Macronix Chairperson Miin Wu:

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Why has Taiwan become
such a sensitive topic?

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Besides its geopolitical importance,

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Taiwan happens to produce

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the world's most advanced semiconductors.

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That's why everyone is
paying such close attention.

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And there's one reason behind it all:
National Security.

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U.S. President Trump:

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Right now everything's
made in Taiwan, practically.

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Almost all.

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00:01:10,650 --> 00:01:12,402
A little bit in South Korea.

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But everything, almost all
of it is made in Taiwan.

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We may have studied different fields,

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but somehow we all

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gravitated toward semiconductors.

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Setting up semiconductor schools

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at four top universities

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feels like both a hint
and an encouragement:

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This is the future.

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My understanding is that
as long as you have a skill,

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TSMC will always have a place for you.

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Young people today worry about
the broader environment,

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about money or about their futures.

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Taiwan doesn't have it as
easy as other countries.

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Even simple interactions
with others can be hard.

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So we know we've got to work harder.

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We try to do something

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for Taiwan whenever we can.

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Taiwan, an island that makes up

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just 0.02% of the world's landmass,

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commands global AI chip production

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and leads in advanced
semiconductor manufacturing.

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TSMC put Taiwan in the global spotlight,

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yet media call it
"the most dangerous place on Earth."

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I'd like to get your priorities
to mitigate the risks to

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your most critical industry,

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semiconductors.

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How do you help mitigate the risk,

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that increasing tension with China?

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Semiconductors are undoubtedly

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Taiwan's strength,

49
00:03:02,804 --> 00:03:04,141
but they're also

50
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our responsibility to the world.

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The semiconductor industry

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can only thrive through

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global collaboration.

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We hope the global community

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will work with us

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to cherish it.

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Taiwan is surrounded by the sea.

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Its coastal and political boundaries

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feel like riddles of fate,

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challenging all who live here.

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In recent years,

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the semiconductor industry

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has been hailed as

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Taiwan's "Silicon Shield"

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or the "National Guardian Mountain."

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But when Professor Wu,

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a longtime scholar of
Taiwan's industrial history,

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asked me in 2017 about
making a film on this subject,

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I turned him down.

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I felt technology was too cold

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and this legend too distant.

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It wasn't until I met this group of people

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that I gladly picked up the camera.

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I spent my 30th birthday in the U.S.

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00:04:03,239 --> 00:04:06,909
while leading the team in Ohio.

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(The RCA project?)

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(Why would they trust you?)

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- (You were so young, in your 20s or 30s.)
- Yeah.

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We still don't know.

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00:04:15,376 --> 00:04:16,969
In 1976,

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Taiwan signed an agreement with RCA.

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A group of engineers, most under 30,

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were sent to the United States
for training,

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00:04:25,052 --> 00:04:29,140
where RCA licensed
semiconductor technology to Taiwan.

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00:04:29,140 --> 00:04:30,516
Dr. Shih Chin-tay,

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former president of ITRI
(Industrial Technology Research Institute),

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was one of the team leaders.

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We just wanted to do
something interesting.

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We never expected it

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to become a hotspot

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for global politics and economics.

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We truly didn't see it coming.

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In hindsight,

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00:04:51,787 --> 00:04:54,332
we took a gamble on semiconductors.

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The odds of success

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00:04:56,910 --> 00:04:59,170
were honestly extremely low.

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Even today,

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00:05:01,339 --> 00:05:04,658
only Japan, Korea, Taiwan and the U.S.

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can produce at this level.

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That tells you how difficult it is.

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For half a century,

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Taiwan has risen from a low-income country

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to a most-watched global tech hub.

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This transformation
has long sparked curiosity.

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In history,

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success stories are always celebrated,

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sometimes even becoming legend.

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Taiwan's semiconductor industry
has one such tale.

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In 1974, seven people had breakfast

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at "Little Hsin-Hsin"
soymilk shop in Taipei.

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00:05:41,128 --> 00:05:45,466
There, Taiwan's national
semiconductor plan was born.

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As Taiwan's semiconductors
gained global attention,

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the media began telling
that breakfast story.

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Many just picked a random soymilk shop,

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slapping a "Little Hsin-Hsin" sign on it.

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There have been several versions.

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Some said it was on Huaining Street,

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some said Nanchang Street,

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and others said elsewhere.

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Mr. Lu Shyue-ching,

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former Chairman of Chunghwa Telecom (CHT),

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said that back in the 1970s,

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CHT published a phonebook every year.

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He asked his former colleagues

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to check the warehouse.

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There really was
a Little Hsin-Hsin... restaurant,

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not a soymilk shop.

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00:06:31,178 --> 00:06:33,514
Little Hsin-Hsin Restaurant.

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No. 40, Nanyang Street.

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No. 40, Nanyang Street.

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Lane 38.

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No. 50.

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Where is No. 40?

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00:07:03,669 --> 00:07:05,755
Excuse me.

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00:07:05,755 --> 00:07:08,758
Do you know where
No. 40, Nanyang Street is?

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This is No. 36 and
the next building is No. 50.

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So you've never heard of No. 40?

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No.

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00:07:16,557 --> 00:07:17,475
No, I'm not sure.

140
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Not sure?

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00:07:18,517 --> 00:07:22,021
No. 40? I've no idea.

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We've been here for years
but never heard of it.

143
00:07:24,023 --> 00:07:26,817
Actually, I couldn't verify it.

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I kept looking,

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00:07:28,069 --> 00:07:30,595
but couldn't find Little Hsin-Hsin's

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true location.

147
00:07:32,198 --> 00:07:38,287
So, we offered a reward of NT$50,000

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00:07:38,287 --> 00:07:40,998
to whoever could find
the original photo and location.

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00:07:40,998 --> 00:07:42,917
No one ever came forward.

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00:07:46,045 --> 00:07:48,255
Is this the Land Office?

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00:07:49,423 --> 00:07:50,925
No. 40, Nanyang Street?

152
00:07:50,925 --> 00:07:51,509
Yes.

153
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No records.

154
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I may have to ask
the archives to help you look.

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00:07:58,766 --> 00:08:00,893
This is a map from
the Japanese colonial era.

156
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This is Nanyang Street.

157
00:08:02,728 --> 00:08:05,022
This is Lane 38, Nanyang Street.

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Having compared them,

159
00:08:07,108 --> 00:08:09,610
we know this is where No. 38 was.

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00:08:09,610 --> 00:08:12,196
So, the No. 40 and 42 you're looking for

161
00:08:12,196 --> 00:08:13,697
were roughly in this area.

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00:08:13,697 --> 00:08:15,658
This is the current map.

163
00:08:15,658 --> 00:08:18,744
The buildings were demolished in 1987

164
00:08:18,744 --> 00:08:21,580
and rebuilt as the "Merica Building."

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Once we confirmed the location,

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we visited Teresa Chen,

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00:08:27,352 --> 00:08:30,131
chairwoman of Merica Education Group.

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Her memories helped reveal

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00:08:31,882 --> 00:08:34,635
the mystery of Little Hsin-Hsin.

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They had breakfast meetings around

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a big table with many people.

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It wasn't a typical soymilk shop.

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Usually, a soymilk shop
just served crullers.

174
00:08:43,686 --> 00:08:45,354
But that place wasn't like that at all.

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I used to live in
the Nanyang Street neighborhood.

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Those breakfast meetings

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00:08:51,110 --> 00:08:53,487
affected our lives quite a lot

178
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because there would be traffic controls.

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These were high-ranking
government officials

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00:08:58,885 --> 00:09:01,328
like the Premier and
the Minister of Economic Affairs.

181
00:09:01,328 --> 00:09:02,872
And it wasn't occasional.

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It happened all the time.

183
00:09:08,544 --> 00:09:13,132
Some wondered why I insisted
on finding the exact spot.

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00:09:13,132 --> 00:09:16,051
Wouldn't a reference photo be enough?

185
00:09:16,051 --> 00:09:20,681
But I believe we can't face history
relying only on imagination.

186
00:09:20,681 --> 00:09:24,143
Each piece of evidence
bears witness of its time.

187
00:09:24,852 --> 00:09:28,355
Finally, we found out
that this legendary soymilk shop

188
00:09:28,355 --> 00:09:31,734
was managed by the
Veterans Affairs Council.

189
00:09:33,360 --> 00:09:35,196
Originally, it was run by

190
00:09:35,196 --> 00:09:37,907
the Suao-Yuanshan branch.

191
00:09:37,907 --> 00:09:41,118
Then it was handed over to
our production and sales center.

192
00:09:41,118 --> 00:09:44,121
That would be the Nanyang St. location.

193
00:09:44,121 --> 00:09:45,539
When I saw the contract,

194
00:09:45,539 --> 00:09:47,750
a clearer picture emerged.

195
00:09:47,750 --> 00:09:49,627
Little Hsin-Hsin was run by veterans.

196
00:09:49,627 --> 00:09:52,087
The soymilk shop was on the first floor.

197
00:09:52,087 --> 00:09:54,089
Legendary for its rich soymilk,

198
00:09:54,089 --> 00:09:56,550
large crullers, and crispy flatbread,

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00:09:56,550 --> 00:09:59,345
they purportedly were the best in Taipei.

200
00:09:59,345 --> 00:10:02,181
The second floor was where
President Chiang Ching-kuo

201
00:10:02,181 --> 00:10:05,434
had breakfast meetings
with top government officials.

202
00:10:08,187 --> 00:10:11,023
Yeh Wan-an, a former government official.

203
00:10:11,023 --> 00:10:13,400
He is now in his 90s and confirmed

204
00:10:13,400 --> 00:10:17,279
this was where the pivotal
seven people meeting took place.

205
00:10:18,197 --> 00:10:20,750
Sun Yun-suan,
then economic affairs minister,

206
00:10:20,750 --> 00:10:23,043
Henry Kao,
then transport and communications minister,

207
00:10:23,043 --> 00:10:25,437
the head of
Chunghwa Telecom Laboratories and others.

208
00:10:25,437 --> 00:10:29,250
Seven of them had breakfast
at Little Hsin-Hsin on Nanyang Street,

209
00:10:29,250 --> 00:10:31,877
and listened to Pan Wen-yuan's report.

210
00:10:31,877 --> 00:10:36,131
Minister Sun was very impressed afterwards.

211
00:10:36,131 --> 00:10:38,634
He asked Pan to draft

212
00:10:38,634 --> 00:10:45,516
an integrated circuit (IC) project proposal

213
00:10:45,516 --> 00:10:47,226
for the government's consideration.

214
00:10:47,226 --> 00:10:50,980
Minister Sun asked
how much funding was needed

215
00:10:50,980 --> 00:10:52,940
and Pan said US$10 million.

216
00:10:52,940 --> 00:10:54,942
That was a huge sum
at the time, NT$400 million.

217
00:10:54,942 --> 00:10:57,236
Sun said, "No problem. Leave it to me."

218
00:11:01,073 --> 00:11:04,201
This history shouldn't be forgotten.

219
00:11:04,201 --> 00:11:06,078
Pan already thought that this was

220
00:11:06,078 --> 00:11:09,373
a very important project for Taiwan.

221
00:11:09,373 --> 00:11:11,458
Looking back,

222
00:11:11,458 --> 00:11:14,920
it was beyond anyone's imagination.

223
00:11:16,463 --> 00:11:19,123
Sun asked Pan to submit a proposal

224
00:11:19,123 --> 00:11:22,303
to the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

225
00:11:22,303 --> 00:11:26,098
So, Pan secluded himself in Room 508

226
00:11:26,098 --> 00:11:27,433
of the Grand Hotel Taipei

227
00:11:27,433 --> 00:11:29,059
for nearly two weeks

228
00:11:29,059 --> 00:11:33,522
to write his IC project proposal.

229
00:11:44,992 --> 00:11:46,994
An old journal from Pan

230
00:11:46,994 --> 00:11:51,415
led us back to Room 508 at the Grand Hotel.

231
00:11:52,624 --> 00:11:53,751
We got to witness

232
00:11:53,751 --> 00:11:57,629
the pressures and
challenges they once shouldered.

233
00:11:58,505 --> 00:12:01,467
July 10, 1974.

234
00:12:01,467 --> 00:12:03,367
Mrs. Pan and I received

235
00:12:03,367 --> 00:12:06,430
a dinner invitation from Minister Sun.

236
00:12:06,430 --> 00:12:10,392
Minister Sun kept us till 11 p.m.

237
00:12:10,392 --> 00:12:13,111
to discuss how to strengthen

238
00:12:13,111 --> 00:12:15,272
Taiwan's electronics industry.

239
00:12:15,272 --> 00:12:17,232
I didn't know I was about to make

240
00:12:17,232 --> 00:12:20,819
a commitment to him which compelled me to:

241
00:12:20,819 --> 00:12:21,553
First,

242
00:12:21,553 --> 00:12:23,554
organize a Technical Advisory Committee

243
00:12:23,554 --> 00:12:25,783
in the U.S.

244
00:12:25,783 --> 00:12:29,411
Second, retire early from RCA Corporation.

245
00:12:29,411 --> 00:12:33,248
Fight an uphill battle

246
00:12:33,248 --> 00:12:36,126
to overcome obstacles for Taiwan.

247
00:12:39,463 --> 00:12:41,131
Today, I come here and feel

248
00:12:41,131 --> 00:12:43,675
as if it happened only yesterday.

249
00:12:43,675 --> 00:12:45,177
Like walking into a dream.

250
00:12:46,929 --> 00:12:50,849
Pan once told me he had
two rules for serving his country:

251
00:12:50,849 --> 00:12:52,351
First, never take a government post,

252
00:12:52,351 --> 00:12:53,936
which he never did.

253
00:12:55,229 --> 00:12:56,188
Right?

254
00:12:56,188 --> 00:12:58,023
Second, no salary.

255
00:12:58,816 --> 00:13:01,485
He came back to Taiwan to serve,

256
00:13:01,485 --> 00:13:03,779
to contribute.

257
00:13:03,779 --> 00:13:07,282
It was to do something

258
00:13:07,282 --> 00:13:09,159
good for the country.

259
00:13:09,159 --> 00:13:11,829
Not for fame or money.

260
00:13:16,125 --> 00:13:18,210
Pan gave up his pension.

261
00:13:19,461 --> 00:13:22,464
His wife gave up her teaching job.

262
00:13:22,464 --> 00:13:26,510
He returned without pay to lead
Taiwan's semiconductor mission.

263
00:13:27,803 --> 00:13:31,056
He said it was all for the country.

264
00:13:31,974 --> 00:13:35,394
What kind of era elicited such sacrifice?

265
00:13:43,735 --> 00:13:49,074
Since 1949, Taiwan has lived
in wartime readiness.

266
00:13:50,617 --> 00:13:55,164
Real battles were once fought
just 5 km from China,

267
00:13:55,164 --> 00:13:57,166
on the island of Kinmen.

268
00:13:58,208 --> 00:14:00,002
On August 23,

269
00:14:00,002 --> 00:14:03,338
our frontline forces fought back with resolve.

270
00:14:03,338 --> 00:14:05,424
Powerful U.S. and R.O.C.
fleets and squadrons

271
00:14:05,424 --> 00:14:07,259
provided armed escort.

272
00:14:08,469 --> 00:14:12,598
From the Battle of Guningtou
to the 823 Bombardment,

273
00:14:12,598 --> 00:14:16,226
followed by 21 years of periodic conflict.

274
00:14:16,226 --> 00:14:18,520
It wasn't until 1979,

275
00:14:18,520 --> 00:14:23,150
when the U.S. established
diplomatic relations with China,

276
00:14:23,150 --> 00:14:25,694
that the war finally ended.

277
00:14:27,404 --> 00:14:31,700
Taiwan's situation seemed
to be on a balance of terror.

278
00:14:42,628 --> 00:14:46,673
Looking back,
when the Korean War erupted in 1950,

279
00:14:46,673 --> 00:14:49,051
seeking to contain communism,

280
00:14:49,051 --> 00:14:50,761
the U.S. provided military and economic
aid to Taiwan for 15 years.

281
00:14:50,761 --> 00:14:54,598
the U.S. provided military and economic
aid to Taiwan for 15 years.

282
00:14:54,598 --> 00:14:57,935
The U.S.-China power plays
have always strained

283
00:14:57,935 --> 00:15:00,979
the fragile thread between war and peace.

284
00:15:03,273 --> 00:15:05,442
Taiwan's economy in
the 1950s was in dire shape.

285
00:15:05,442 --> 00:15:08,737
High unemployment, runaway inflation, etc.

286
00:15:08,737 --> 00:15:10,096
When the U.S. aid arrived,

287
00:15:10,096 --> 00:15:12,990
they said that when they
supported a country,

288
00:15:12,990 --> 00:15:14,893
stabilizing the economy took priority.

289
00:15:15,118 --> 00:15:16,645
The U.S. aid came in two parts:

290
00:15:16,645 --> 00:15:18,664
military and economic.

291
00:15:18,664 --> 00:15:20,465
The military aid was slightly larger

292
00:15:20,465 --> 00:15:22,793
than the economic aid.

293
00:15:22,793 --> 00:15:24,545
Mostly as weapons and equipment.

294
00:15:24,545 --> 00:15:25,796
The economic aid

295
00:15:25,796 --> 00:15:28,715
focused on infrastructure,

296
00:15:28,715 --> 00:15:30,874
roads, electricity grids

297
00:15:30,874 --> 00:15:32,928
and other essentials.

298
00:15:33,887 --> 00:15:35,714
The U.S. gave Taiwan

299
00:15:35,714 --> 00:15:37,432
US$100 million a year.

300
00:15:37,432 --> 00:15:38,934
It was about

301
00:15:38,934 --> 00:15:42,062
6% of Taiwan's GDP.

302
00:15:42,062 --> 00:15:43,888
When that aid suddenly stopped,

303
00:15:43,888 --> 00:15:45,023
it hit Taiwan hard.

304
00:16:23,145 --> 00:16:27,858
This phone call opened a door
for Taiwan's path to technology.

305
00:16:27,858 --> 00:16:28,900
The following year,

306
00:16:28,900 --> 00:16:30,127
the first METS
(Modern Engineering and Technology Seminar)

307
00:16:30,127 --> 00:16:31,361
was held.

308
00:16:31,361 --> 00:16:36,783
Engineers from abroad brought back
new industry knowledge and ideas.

309
00:16:36,783 --> 00:16:39,453
They planted the seeds of change.

310
00:16:39,453 --> 00:16:43,373
Telecom, computing,
civil engineering, management

311
00:16:43,373 --> 00:16:45,542
and even film were discussed.

312
00:16:45,542 --> 00:16:48,394
Most important of all was
the semiconductor

313
00:16:48,394 --> 00:16:51,089
technology and knowledge.

314
00:16:51,089 --> 00:16:53,191
Fei and Pan knew each other

315
00:16:53,191 --> 00:16:55,344
from their days at Chiao Tung University.

316
00:16:55,344 --> 00:16:58,639
They hoped those engineers in the U.S.,

317
00:16:58,639 --> 00:17:01,058
back then, Taiwan felt like the homeland.

318
00:17:01,058 --> 00:17:02,601
They hoped to come back and help.

319
00:17:03,644 --> 00:17:06,271
They had advanced technology,

320
00:17:06,271 --> 00:17:08,440
a global perspective,

321
00:17:08,440 --> 00:17:09,941
and the will to build an industry.

322
00:17:10,525 --> 00:17:12,569
In hindsight,

323
00:17:12,569 --> 00:17:15,328
I'm deeply grateful to

324
00:17:15,328 --> 00:17:18,492
the scholars and experts who joined.

325
00:17:18,492 --> 00:17:21,745
Together with local specialists,

326
00:17:21,745 --> 00:17:25,022
they carefully documented everything

327
00:17:25,022 --> 00:17:27,459
brought back from overseas.

328
00:17:27,459 --> 00:17:30,295
It was clear, thorough and precise.

329
00:17:30,295 --> 00:17:33,382
They were top professors in the U.S.,

330
00:17:33,382 --> 00:17:35,600
highly accomplished

331
00:17:35,600 --> 00:17:37,803
if you looked at their resumes.

332
00:17:37,803 --> 00:17:40,838
Yet when Taiwan called,

333
00:17:40,838 --> 00:17:42,424
they came home.

334
00:17:42,808 --> 00:17:46,019
I wrote the first report.

335
00:17:46,019 --> 00:17:48,397
We documented things like this.

336
00:17:48,397 --> 00:17:50,482
"An introduction to IC technology."

337
00:17:50,482 --> 00:17:53,318
"Translated and organized by S.N. Yeh."

338
00:17:53,318 --> 00:17:57,322
I took Pan through factory after factory,

339
00:17:57,322 --> 00:18:00,826
they all looked the same.

340
00:18:00,826 --> 00:18:02,136
The most advanced work

341
00:18:02,136 --> 00:18:03,954
was assembling digital watches.

342
00:18:03,954 --> 00:18:06,832
It strained the eyes terribly.

343
00:18:06,832 --> 00:18:09,668
All women, all straining their eyes.

344
00:18:09,668 --> 00:18:12,671
We couldn't help but wonder,

345
00:18:13,922 --> 00:18:16,631
just to pay for a Boeing plane

346
00:18:16,631 --> 00:18:18,135
from the U.S.,

347
00:18:18,135 --> 00:18:19,978
how many workers would

348
00:18:19,978 --> 00:18:23,849
it take to earn that back?

349
00:18:23,849 --> 00:18:26,101
Mr. Pan would come by often.

350
00:18:26,101 --> 00:18:29,813
One afternoon, he stopped by the office

351
00:18:30,939 --> 00:18:32,566
and we had a long talk.

352
00:18:32,566 --> 00:18:34,526
What stayed with me was this:

353
00:18:34,526 --> 00:18:35,927
"Taiwan's IC development

354
00:18:35,927 --> 00:18:38,947
must not crawl on the ground."

355
00:18:39,823 --> 00:18:43,702
That one line

356
00:18:43,702 --> 00:18:45,303
changed the course

357
00:18:45,303 --> 00:18:47,497
of Taiwan's development.

358
00:18:52,586 --> 00:18:56,381
In an era when technology was
called upon to save the nation,

359
00:18:56,381 --> 00:18:58,125
National Chiao Tung University (NCTU)

360
00:18:58,125 --> 00:19:02,345
established Taiwan's
first semiconductor research lab,

361
00:19:02,345 --> 00:19:05,599
becoming the cradle
for semiconductor talent.

362
00:19:05,932 --> 00:19:07,184
When I was a junior in college,

363
00:19:07,184 --> 00:19:10,645
I took a course in semiconductors.

364
00:19:10,645 --> 00:19:11,936
I remember it was

365
00:19:11,936 --> 00:19:14,483
a semiconductor engineering class.

366
00:19:14,483 --> 00:19:16,240
It had a profound impact on

367
00:19:16,240 --> 00:19:18,361
the college students at the time.

368
00:19:18,361 --> 00:19:21,156
Back then, we'd chat and wonder

369
00:19:21,156 --> 00:19:24,451
when Taiwan would be like the U.S.,

370
00:19:24,451 --> 00:19:25,994
with a strong semiconductor industry

371
00:19:25,994 --> 00:19:28,747
and many great semiconductor companies.

372
00:19:28,747 --> 00:19:31,011
Everyone was hoping one day

373
00:19:31,011 --> 00:19:33,668
we'd have an industry like that.

374
00:19:35,295 --> 00:19:36,171
Six,

375
00:19:36,171 --> 00:19:37,130
five,

376
00:19:37,130 --> 00:19:37,964
four,

377
00:19:37,964 --> 00:19:38,965
three,

378
00:19:38,965 --> 00:19:39,966
two,

379
00:19:39,966 --> 00:19:41,259
one,

380
00:19:41,259 --> 00:19:41,802
zero.

381
00:19:41,802 --> 00:19:43,804
All engines running.

382
00:19:43,804 --> 00:19:46,223
Liftoff. We have a liftoff.

383
00:19:48,016 --> 00:19:50,101
I was walking on the street in Taipei,

384
00:19:50,101 --> 00:19:52,771
a shop had TVs in the window,

385
00:19:52,771 --> 00:19:54,981
with the screens facing the street.

386
00:19:54,981 --> 00:19:59,110
Wow! Man has made it to the Moon.

387
00:19:59,110 --> 00:20:01,029
The moon landing had commenced.

388
00:20:01,029 --> 00:20:04,324
I felt science was advancing so rapidly

389
00:20:04,324 --> 00:20:06,576
that we couldn't catch up with it.

390
00:20:08,829 --> 00:20:10,831
I'm going to step off the LM now.

391
00:20:12,040 --> 00:20:15,085
That's one small step for a man,

392
00:20:17,003 --> 00:20:20,549
one giant leap for mankind.

393
00:20:21,299 --> 00:20:25,971
One small step for tech,
one giant leap for mankind.

394
00:20:25,971 --> 00:20:30,934
In 1971, Intel launched
the world's first microprocessor —

395
00:20:30,934 --> 00:20:33,770
Intel 4004.

396
00:20:33,770 --> 00:20:35,397
At the same time,

397
00:20:35,397 --> 00:20:37,440
Taiwan suffered a major blow

398
00:20:37,440 --> 00:20:40,068
when it lost its seat at the UN.

399
00:20:40,652 --> 00:20:44,197
The delegation of
Republic of China has now decided

400
00:20:44,197 --> 00:20:47,391
not to take part in any further proceedings

401
00:20:47,391 --> 00:20:49,911
of this General Assembly.

402
00:20:49,911 --> 00:20:54,332
In 1971, we were expelled from the UN.

403
00:20:54,332 --> 00:20:55,867
It was an impactful event.

404
00:20:55,867 --> 00:20:57,878
It meant other countries
wouldn't acknowledge us.

405
00:20:57,878 --> 00:21:00,213
At the time, people felt that

406
00:21:00,213 --> 00:21:02,382
Taiwan's withdrawal from the UN,

407
00:21:02,382 --> 00:21:05,010
coupled with the loss of
strong U.S. backing,

408
00:21:05,010 --> 00:21:08,305
meant Taiwan was doomed.

409
00:21:08,722 --> 00:21:11,099
There were many Taiwanese
grad students at Princeton.

410
00:21:11,099 --> 00:21:13,050
I often sat and chatted with

411
00:21:13,050 --> 00:21:15,103
Yang Ding-yuan and Chang Ching-chu.

412
00:21:15,103 --> 00:21:19,149
At some point, we started asking ourselves:

413
00:21:19,149 --> 00:21:21,192
What are we doing in the U.S.?

414
00:21:21,651 --> 00:21:23,361
Just watching fires burn back home?

415
00:21:23,361 --> 00:21:26,823
Just making it something to talk about?

416
00:21:26,823 --> 00:21:28,491
Or is there something we can actually do?

417
00:21:29,284 --> 00:21:31,244
In those turbulent times,

418
00:21:31,244 --> 00:21:34,039
a wave of mass emigration erupted.

419
00:21:34,039 --> 00:21:36,207
To calm people down, the government

420
00:21:36,207 --> 00:21:39,044
even made a series of patriotic films,

421
00:21:39,044 --> 00:21:42,422
hoping to boost morale
and inspire patriotism.

422
00:21:42,422 --> 00:21:44,215
But more trouble came.

423
00:21:44,215 --> 00:21:46,384
The subsequent global oil crisis

424
00:21:46,384 --> 00:21:51,014
made the situation worse for Taiwan,
which lacks mineral resources.

425
00:21:51,014 --> 00:21:52,390
October 1973,

426
00:21:52,390 --> 00:21:55,310
the oil price rose from NT$2-plus
to over NT$4 dollars a barrel.

427
00:21:55,310 --> 00:21:58,521
By January 1, 1974,
it went up another NT$11.

428
00:21:58,521 --> 00:22:00,933
High oil prices were not conducive

429
00:22:00,933 --> 00:22:03,234
to the development of the
heavy chemical industry.

430
00:22:03,234 --> 00:22:05,636
The fact that Taiwan had
no minerals was devastating.

431
00:22:05,636 --> 00:22:08,156
If Taiwan had minerals, it'd be different.

432
00:22:08,156 --> 00:22:09,491
So I told Minister Sun that

433
00:22:09,491 --> 00:22:11,660
we must develop high tech.

434
00:22:11,660 --> 00:22:13,078
We had no choice.

435
00:22:13,078 --> 00:22:15,330
The U.S. launched a rocket in 1969.

436
00:22:15,330 --> 00:22:17,315
It signaled a bright future

437
00:22:17,315 --> 00:22:18,750
for semiconductors.

438
00:22:18,750 --> 00:22:20,585
Finally, I persuaded Minister Sun.

439
00:22:20,585 --> 00:22:23,505
He took a team to visit
then Premier Chiang Ching-kuo

440
00:22:23,505 --> 00:22:25,006
and persuaded Premier Chiang.

441
00:22:25,924 --> 00:22:33,598
In 1973, the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) was founded.

442
00:22:52,659 --> 00:22:54,327
Having accepted Pan's plan

443
00:22:54,327 --> 00:22:57,122
for developing semiconductors in Taiwan,

444
00:22:57,122 --> 00:22:59,624
Minister Sun began recruiting.

445
00:22:59,624 --> 00:23:01,376
Professor Hu Ding-hua

446
00:23:01,376 --> 00:23:04,629
stepped up and volunteered
to lead the project.

447
00:23:05,171 --> 00:23:07,716
In 1976, ITRI sent

448
00:23:07,716 --> 00:23:10,385
more than 40 young engineers in batches

449
00:23:10,385 --> 00:23:13,013
to the RCA Corporation in the U.S.

450
00:23:13,013 --> 00:23:15,890
to study in its semiconductor division.

451
00:23:16,766 --> 00:23:19,060
RCA's technology was incomplete.

452
00:23:19,060 --> 00:23:21,104
It wasn't even top-tier.

453
00:23:21,104 --> 00:23:26,192
Among the 30-plus early candidates,

454
00:23:26,192 --> 00:23:32,824
RCA was the only company willing

455
00:23:32,824 --> 00:23:35,118
to offer ten spots for IC designers.

456
00:23:35,118 --> 00:23:36,703
It was the one and only.

457
00:23:36,703 --> 00:23:38,663
What they learned from RCA

458
00:23:38,663 --> 00:23:41,916
not only created Taiwan's
semiconductor industry from scratch

459
00:23:41,916 --> 00:23:45,462
but also laid the technological
foundation for its future.

460
00:23:46,337 --> 00:23:49,132
There are many aspects
to any historical event.

461
00:23:49,132 --> 00:23:50,967
From a technology history perspective,

462
00:23:50,967 --> 00:23:53,720
we must acknowledge the groundwork
laid by those before us

463
00:23:53,720 --> 00:23:55,848
and never forget the way they paved.

464
00:23:55,848 --> 00:24:00,185
I think they fought to do what was right.

465
00:24:00,185 --> 00:24:01,786
You probably have no idea about

466
00:24:01,786 --> 00:24:04,147
the magnitude of your
contribution to Taiwan.

467
00:24:04,147 --> 00:24:06,566
Had it not been for you,

468
00:24:06,566 --> 00:24:08,760
Taiwan's economic and industrial path

469
00:24:08,760 --> 00:24:10,946
would've been completely different.

470
00:24:12,238 --> 00:24:16,367
Most of Taiwan's college graduates used to

471
00:24:16,367 --> 00:24:18,787
go abroad for their graduate studies.

472
00:24:18,787 --> 00:24:20,830
We used to say,

473
00:24:20,830 --> 00:24:23,333
"Come, come, come to NTU...
Go, go, go to America."

474
00:24:23,333 --> 00:24:25,376
Those who stayed or came back from the U.S.

475
00:24:25,376 --> 00:24:29,255
joined this project with one goal

476
00:24:29,255 --> 00:24:34,886
to reach a higher level.

477
00:24:35,136 --> 00:24:39,307
Around December 1975,

478
00:24:39,307 --> 00:24:41,518
in China Times and United Daily News,

479
00:24:41,518 --> 00:24:43,594
there was an ad in English.

480
00:24:43,594 --> 00:24:44,896
It was pretty big.

481
00:24:44,896 --> 00:24:48,483
It said ITRI was recruiting young talent

482
00:24:48,483 --> 00:24:53,571
to train in IC technology in the U.S.

483
00:24:53,571 --> 00:24:55,865
When I saw it,

484
00:24:55,865 --> 00:24:58,535
I quietly signed up,

485
00:24:58,535 --> 00:25:00,328
I didn't even tell my wife.

486
00:25:00,912 --> 00:25:03,248
I had finished my master's.

487
00:25:03,248 --> 00:25:04,415
There was a small ad

488
00:25:04,415 --> 00:25:06,150
in Central Daily News saying

489
00:25:06,150 --> 00:25:11,214
ITRI was launching an IC project.

490
00:25:11,214 --> 00:25:13,716
I thought, "Nice," and applied for it.

491
00:25:13,716 --> 00:25:15,802
Before we left for RCA,

492
00:25:15,802 --> 00:25:23,935
Minister Sun met with the whole team,

493
00:25:23,935 --> 00:25:26,354
and encouraged us to complete
the mission successfully.

494
00:25:26,354 --> 00:25:30,191
He stressed how critical the mission was.

495
00:25:30,191 --> 00:25:31,876
We had to succeed.

496
00:25:31,876 --> 00:25:33,528
Failure was not an option.

497
00:25:33,528 --> 00:25:36,205
Minister Sun spoke to us all

498
00:25:36,205 --> 00:25:39,200
before we left.

499
00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:43,288
It felt like a true mission to everyone.

500
00:25:44,372 --> 00:25:46,499
He told us,

501
00:25:46,499 --> 00:25:48,918
"We must succeed.
Failure is not an option."

502
00:26:00,180 --> 00:26:02,599
(So the Minister had
high hopes for you all.)

503
00:26:03,141 --> 00:26:04,517
As the chief project lead,

504
00:26:04,517 --> 00:26:08,688
I stood up and said,
"Yes, we will succeed."

505
00:26:12,483 --> 00:26:16,279
The first group of 19
was dispatched to RCA.

506
00:26:16,279 --> 00:26:19,282
Hu stayed in Taiwan as project director.

507
00:26:19,782 --> 00:26:24,412
In the U.S., Yang, Shih, Chang and Shu

508
00:26:24,412 --> 00:26:29,083
led the design, process, testing
and equipment teams.

509
00:26:32,962 --> 00:26:36,674
Arriving in the U.S.,

510
00:26:36,674 --> 00:26:38,801
I saw highways everywhere.

511
00:26:38,801 --> 00:26:42,889
Everyone, even a gatekeeper,

512
00:26:42,889 --> 00:26:47,018
had a nice house, A/C and a fridge.

513
00:26:47,018 --> 00:26:52,065
Our daily allowance

514
00:26:52,065 --> 00:26:54,198
including food, rent,

515
00:26:54,198 --> 00:26:56,611
insurance and everything

516
00:26:57,737 --> 00:27:02,116
was just US$18.

517
00:27:03,284 --> 00:27:07,956
So, when we passed McDonald's or KFC,

518
00:27:07,956 --> 00:27:12,043
we'd take a whiff and quietly walk away.

519
00:27:12,752 --> 00:27:14,921
We couldn't afford it.

520
00:27:14,921 --> 00:27:17,757
It was a shock,

521
00:27:17,757 --> 00:27:21,177
a deep, unforgettable shock.

522
00:27:21,177 --> 00:27:25,014
Then we thought,

523
00:27:28,768 --> 00:27:30,061
someday,

524
00:27:40,822 --> 00:27:43,074
we would catch up.

525
00:27:49,163 --> 00:27:51,958
We were determined to
accomplish the mission.

526
00:27:52,625 --> 00:27:55,076
We pulled out all the stops
to get it done.

527
00:27:55,076 --> 00:27:57,146
Not just to learn from them,

528
00:27:57,146 --> 00:28:01,050
but to show we could match them,

529
00:28:01,050 --> 00:28:03,011
maybe even surpass them.

530
00:28:03,636 --> 00:28:05,430
I asked them to write down everything,

531
00:28:05,430 --> 00:28:08,641
every detail they saw in the fab.

532
00:28:08,641 --> 00:28:12,687
Having been on a design team
in a U.S. factory,

533
00:28:12,687 --> 00:28:16,107
I knew even the tiniest detail

534
00:28:16,107 --> 00:28:19,319
could make or break production.

535
00:28:19,319 --> 00:28:20,675
So I told them to

536
00:28:20,675 --> 00:28:22,714
document everything carefully,

537
00:28:22,714 --> 00:28:24,016
even the smallest,

538
00:28:24,016 --> 00:28:25,533
seemingly trivial details.

539
00:28:25,533 --> 00:28:26,852
While in Ohio,

540
00:28:26,852 --> 00:28:29,454
I often printed out their
process specs so that we could

541
00:28:29,454 --> 00:28:32,540
bring back all the settings
and processes shared with us.

542
00:28:32,540 --> 00:28:35,001
They thought we printed so much

543
00:28:35,001 --> 00:28:37,171
that we were driving up their costs.

544
00:28:38,171 --> 00:28:40,423
They even complained to Shih about it.

545
00:28:40,423 --> 00:28:43,343
The technicians in our department

546
00:28:43,343 --> 00:28:45,428
saw how hard we worked and joked,

547
00:28:45,428 --> 00:28:48,097
"We'll lose our jobs
as soon as you guys go home."

548
00:28:48,097 --> 00:28:50,975
Incidentally...

549
00:28:50,975 --> 00:28:53,436
one of them, a good friend of mine,

550
00:28:53,436 --> 00:28:56,105
typed out "Made in Taiwan"

551
00:28:56,105 --> 00:28:58,775
and stuck it on his phone.

552
00:28:58,775 --> 00:29:02,320
He said, "Someday, all this
will be made by you guys in Taiwan."

553
00:29:02,862 --> 00:29:06,449
Most of these factory workers

554
00:29:06,449 --> 00:29:10,578
were no more than high school graduates.

555
00:29:10,578 --> 00:29:12,955
I often said our team was

556
00:29:12,955 --> 00:29:17,502
like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

557
00:29:17,502 --> 00:29:19,504
We got more education than they did.

558
00:29:19,504 --> 00:29:24,884
But could we do as well or even better?

559
00:29:24,884 --> 00:29:26,511
That was our real challenge.

560
00:29:30,348 --> 00:29:31,745
We spent nearly

561
00:29:31,745 --> 00:29:33,935
all our time in the factory.

562
00:29:33,935 --> 00:29:36,437
Tseng was the first to learn to drive.

563
00:29:36,437 --> 00:29:38,147
Once, he drove us to

564
00:29:38,147 --> 00:29:40,400
Cedar Point in northern Ohio.

565
00:29:40,400 --> 00:29:42,026
It was an amusement park.

566
00:29:42,318 --> 00:29:43,444
We went there

567
00:29:43,444 --> 00:29:45,405
and had a blast.

568
00:29:45,405 --> 00:29:47,907
We stayed out way too late.

569
00:29:47,907 --> 00:29:50,368
When we got back, Shih was furious.

570
00:29:50,952 --> 00:29:53,162
He said, "If something happened,

571
00:29:53,162 --> 00:29:57,917
the whole project would've collapsed!"

572
00:29:57,917 --> 00:30:00,086
"No more trips like that."

573
00:30:00,086 --> 00:30:03,297
There were no cell phones back then.

574
00:30:03,297 --> 00:30:04,882
He was worried sick.

575
00:30:06,134 --> 00:30:08,136
These photos are real treasures.

576
00:30:09,470 --> 00:30:11,514
Here we are, out on a boat trip.

577
00:30:11,514 --> 00:30:12,932
These are...

578
00:30:12,932 --> 00:30:15,977
Shih, Tseng and me.

579
00:30:15,977 --> 00:30:19,480
At that time, we cut each other's hair.

580
00:30:19,480 --> 00:30:21,649
We'd make a hole in the newspaper,

581
00:30:21,649 --> 00:30:23,985
drape it over like a cape, and snip away.

582
00:30:27,738 --> 00:30:31,451
My child was born in 1977,

583
00:30:31,451 --> 00:30:34,245
after I returned from RCA.

584
00:30:35,997 --> 00:30:36,998
He was born after you came back?

585
00:30:36,998 --> 00:30:38,916
He was born after I came back.

586
00:30:39,876 --> 00:30:41,294
You got your driver's license in the U.S.?

587
00:30:41,294 --> 00:30:42,503
I got my driver's license in the U.S.

588
00:30:42,503 --> 00:30:43,798
They all worked hard

589
00:30:43,798 --> 00:30:45,840
to get a driver's license there.

590
00:30:45,840 --> 00:30:47,008
Just to...

591
00:30:47,008 --> 00:30:49,010
Just to go out and explore.

592
00:30:49,469 --> 00:30:53,264
During Thanksgiving break,

593
00:30:53,264 --> 00:30:55,600
the holiday was three or four days.

594
00:30:55,600 --> 00:31:01,481
I drove from Ohio to Huntsville, Alabama.

595
00:31:01,481 --> 00:31:03,274
Then down to New Orleans, Louisiana.

596
00:31:03,274 --> 00:31:06,694
Their trip sounded crazy to me.

597
00:31:06,694 --> 00:31:08,529
Why would anyone drive like that?

598
00:31:08,529 --> 00:31:11,449
You just sat...

599
00:31:12,241 --> 00:31:14,285
and drove without checking anything out.

600
00:31:15,077 --> 00:31:17,455
(Three straight days behind the wheel?)

601
00:31:17,455 --> 00:31:20,416
Yes, all the way south and back up.

602
00:31:20,416 --> 00:31:23,085
(Did you think of taking him along)

603
00:31:23,085 --> 00:31:24,879
(just so he couldn't pull the rank on you?)

604
00:31:24,879 --> 00:31:27,381
No, he wouldn't go with us.

605
00:31:28,216 --> 00:31:30,301
I had to write the reports.

606
00:31:45,274 --> 00:31:48,110
The real stress came every weekend.

607
00:31:48,110 --> 00:31:49,787
On Sunday evenings,

608
00:31:49,787 --> 00:31:52,490
I'd get a call from Hu.

609
00:31:53,032 --> 00:31:56,410
Taiwan had finished Monday's meeting,

610
00:31:56,410 --> 00:31:57,703
so instructions came pouring in.

611
00:31:57,703 --> 00:32:01,123
In those two to three years,

612
00:32:01,123 --> 00:32:02,432
my heart skipped a beat

613
00:32:02,432 --> 00:32:04,218
whenever I heard the phone ring.

614
00:32:05,753 --> 00:32:08,297
Back then, the RCA team had to learn

615
00:32:08,297 --> 00:32:11,133
not just IC design and processing,

616
00:32:11,133 --> 00:32:14,136
but also U.S. management systems.

617
00:32:14,136 --> 00:32:16,514
The only female member on the team was

618
00:32:16,514 --> 00:32:19,684
Chang Jing-yue, who was
responsible for accounting.

619
00:32:20,101 --> 00:32:22,453
I took pride in contributing

620
00:32:22,453 --> 00:32:25,022
to the success of the program.

621
00:32:25,022 --> 00:32:28,859
I believed I helped push it

622
00:32:28,859 --> 00:32:31,904
toward a more perfect execution.

623
00:32:31,904 --> 00:32:35,866
I think, back then... it was Mr. Hu.

624
00:32:35,866 --> 00:32:38,035
They were incredibly wise.

625
00:32:38,452 --> 00:32:40,413
Why was cost accounting
included in the project?

626
00:32:40,413 --> 00:32:43,874
They knew it wasn't just about tech.

627
00:32:43,874 --> 00:32:48,170
They wanted to turn it into a product,

628
00:32:48,170 --> 00:32:49,672
to commercialize what we learned.

629
00:32:49,672 --> 00:32:54,135
And that meant knowing the costs.

630
00:32:54,844 --> 00:32:56,679
As soon as we arrived,

631
00:32:56,679 --> 00:32:58,931
they gave me

632
00:32:58,931 --> 00:33:00,558
lots of these notepads.

633
00:33:00,558 --> 00:33:01,976
(Did everyone have them?)

634
00:33:01,976 --> 00:33:04,270
Yes. They gave us these
as soon as we arrived.

635
00:33:05,104 --> 00:33:08,733
Dating back to 1977...
they are more than 40 years old.

636
00:33:13,070 --> 00:33:17,283
This was our appointment letter.

637
00:33:17,283 --> 00:33:19,160
(You still have these.)

638
00:33:19,160 --> 00:33:22,079
Yes, I kept them at home.

639
00:33:22,079 --> 00:33:25,958
These engineers not only
had to work hard in the U.S.,

640
00:33:25,958 --> 00:33:28,961
they also had to take on
assignments from Taiwan,

641
00:33:28,961 --> 00:33:34,842
including designing Taiwan's
first IC, the CIC-0001 chip.

642
00:33:34,842 --> 00:33:38,804
The purpose was to provide
better positioning for the balloons

643
00:33:38,804 --> 00:33:42,391
used in the psychological
warfare against China.

644
00:33:42,391 --> 00:33:44,477
The aid sent to China via balloons

645
00:33:44,477 --> 00:33:47,355
includes cured meat,
rice and daily goods.

646
00:33:47,355 --> 00:33:49,607
We also send countless flyers in color,

647
00:33:49,607 --> 00:33:51,651
calling on compatriots
to rise against communism.

648
00:33:51,651 --> 00:33:53,569
In Kinmen, they'd launch balloons

649
00:33:53,569 --> 00:33:55,946
carrying flyers and small goods

650
00:33:55,946 --> 00:33:59,408
to float across the strait.

651
00:33:59,408 --> 00:34:03,829
Each balloon had a timer

652
00:34:03,829 --> 00:34:06,423
set according to the weather,

653
00:34:06,423 --> 00:34:09,085
wind and temperature.

654
00:34:09,085 --> 00:34:12,963
The old system wasn't that reliable.

655
00:34:12,963 --> 00:34:14,715
Ours was digital.

656
00:34:14,715 --> 00:34:17,134
Much more accurate.
The timing was precise.

657
00:34:17,134 --> 00:34:18,636
But...

658
00:34:18,636 --> 00:34:20,888
later, a bunch of problems came up.

659
00:34:20,888 --> 00:34:23,206
Our IC couldn't handle

660
00:34:23,206 --> 00:34:25,518
the temperatures at high altitude.

661
00:34:25,518 --> 00:34:28,604
Though this project didn't succeed,

662
00:34:28,604 --> 00:34:30,815
it was vital for ITRI.

663
00:34:30,815 --> 00:34:35,152
From designing, manufacturing,
testing and packaging,

664
00:34:35,152 --> 00:34:37,697
we went over the entire process.

665
00:34:38,572 --> 00:34:40,408
Although this homegrown chip

666
00:34:40,408 --> 00:34:44,120
couldn't cope with the temperature
difference at high altitude

667
00:34:44,120 --> 00:34:45,663
and failed,

668
00:34:45,663 --> 00:34:48,916
it seemed to witness
the intertwining relationship between

669
00:34:48,916 --> 00:34:52,044
tech advancement and national strategy.

670
00:34:53,504 --> 00:34:56,298
Before the RCA team left for the U.S.,

671
00:34:56,298 --> 00:34:59,301
Minister Sun formally assigned
the task to them.

672
00:34:59,301 --> 00:35:01,470
He met with them and
encouraged them in person.

673
00:35:01,470 --> 00:35:04,432
It was a gesture full of hope and purpose.

674
00:35:04,432 --> 00:35:06,851
To the outside world, they were engineers

675
00:35:06,851 --> 00:35:08,978
pursuing cutting-edge technology.

676
00:35:08,978 --> 00:35:12,356
But their true fuel wasn't science.

677
00:35:12,356 --> 00:35:16,026
It was love for their home country.

678
00:35:16,026 --> 00:35:19,321
So we have to see the bigger picture

679
00:35:19,321 --> 00:35:23,576
to understand why

680
00:35:23,576 --> 00:35:26,537
they gave it everything they had,

681
00:35:26,537 --> 00:35:29,081
and what truly drove them.

682
00:35:34,587 --> 00:35:37,339
Geopolitical shifts are felt most deeply

683
00:35:37,339 --> 00:35:41,051
by those carrying out
national missions abroad.

684
00:35:42,261 --> 00:35:47,099
In 1976, the Summer Olympics
was held in Montreal.

685
00:35:47,099 --> 00:35:50,853
Taiwan was banned from
entering as Team R.O.C.

686
00:35:50,853 --> 00:35:54,857
as Canada established
diplomatic relations with China.

687
00:35:54,857 --> 00:35:57,526
This incident shocked Taiwan

688
00:35:57,526 --> 00:36:01,989
and sent the RCA team's
motivation into overdrive.

689
00:36:01,989 --> 00:36:04,041
The Olympics happened to take place

690
00:36:04,041 --> 00:36:05,659
while we were in the U.S.

691
00:36:05,659 --> 00:36:11,040
The Taiwanese team was banned

692
00:36:11,040 --> 00:36:12,750
and wasn't allowed to participate.

693
00:36:12,750 --> 00:36:15,920
We came to learn about what happened.

694
00:36:15,920 --> 00:36:17,588
But there was nothing we could do.

695
00:36:17,588 --> 00:36:20,483
We were engineers

696
00:36:20,483 --> 00:36:22,176
we weren't considering politics.

697
00:36:22,176 --> 00:36:25,095
The most important thing was
we had to do our job well.

698
00:36:25,095 --> 00:36:28,224
If Taiwan isn't strong, nothing we say

699
00:36:28,224 --> 00:36:29,433
will matter much.

700
00:36:30,810 --> 00:36:34,355
In 1977, a pilot fab was founded,

701
00:36:34,355 --> 00:36:38,776
symbolizing the seeds of semiconductors
carried across the ocean

702
00:36:38,776 --> 00:36:41,153
about to take root in Taiwan.

703
00:36:41,237 --> 00:36:43,572
There was fierce resistance.

704
00:36:43,572 --> 00:36:46,283
Lawmakers questioned Minister Sun.

705
00:36:46,283 --> 00:36:49,203
Why invest so much in
something so uncertain?

706
00:36:49,203 --> 00:36:52,581
The economy was struggling.
Times were tough.

707
00:36:52,581 --> 00:36:55,459
Why take such a gamble?

708
00:36:55,459 --> 00:36:57,253
I knew Minister Sun
was having a hard time.

709
00:36:57,253 --> 00:36:58,754
Even within the government,
he stood alone.

710
00:36:58,754 --> 00:37:00,965
The National Assembly opposed it.
Ditto the Ministry of Finance.

711
00:37:00,965 --> 00:37:02,299
Even his own ministry pushed back.

712
00:37:02,299 --> 00:37:04,677
He was the Minister of Economic Affairs

713
00:37:04,677 --> 00:37:07,471
and still, his ministry opposed him.

714
00:37:07,471 --> 00:37:10,307
Some old lawmaker friends
even scolded him over dinner,

715
00:37:10,307 --> 00:37:11,642
saying he was out of
his mind for betting on chips.

716
00:37:11,642 --> 00:37:14,353
He told me all this.

717
00:37:14,353 --> 00:37:16,981
I said, "Ignore them.
They just don't see it yet."

718
00:37:26,323 --> 00:37:28,659
"Six months ago, Singapore's
Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew

719
00:37:28,659 --> 00:37:31,745
visited our semiconductor lab.

720
00:37:31,745 --> 00:37:36,834
Lee asked, 'Who made this bold decision?'

721
00:37:36,834 --> 00:37:41,297
Sun stayed silent.

722
00:37:41,297 --> 00:37:44,008
So, I (Fang Hien-chee) spoke up,

723
00:37:44,008 --> 00:37:47,136
'It was Mr. Sun.'"

724
00:37:47,136 --> 00:37:50,931
The hardest part about decision-making

725
00:37:50,931 --> 00:37:54,935
is acting in an unfamiliar field.

726
00:37:54,935 --> 00:37:57,938
It's dangerous to lead when
you don't know the terrain.

727
00:37:57,938 --> 00:38:01,483
But I believe Minister Sun
had done his homework.

728
00:38:01,483 --> 00:38:06,614
He'd heard from Fang and Pan

729
00:38:06,614 --> 00:38:10,159
and received advice from Simon M. Sze.

730
00:38:10,159 --> 00:38:15,331
He knew exactly what he was doing.

731
00:38:15,331 --> 00:38:18,751
That's why he didn't hesitate
pulling the trigger.

732
00:38:18,751 --> 00:38:20,610
By then, Minister Sun

733
00:38:20,610 --> 00:38:21,795
had become Premier Sun.

734
00:38:21,795 --> 00:38:23,279
At the pilot fab opening,

735
00:38:23,279 --> 00:38:26,133
we issued him a guest badge.

736
00:38:26,133 --> 00:38:27,968
You know what he did?

737
00:38:28,552 --> 00:38:30,179
He tossed the badge aside and said,

738
00:38:30,179 --> 00:38:33,349
"I'm not a guest. I'm the owner."

739
00:38:36,810 --> 00:38:39,188
"This is my project."

740
00:38:39,563 --> 00:38:42,983
The biggest challenge the pilot fab
faced after it opened

741
00:38:42,983 --> 00:38:44,652
was to find business orders

742
00:38:44,652 --> 00:38:46,570
to keep operations running.

743
00:38:47,071 --> 00:38:50,491
Shih turned to his college
roommate Chu for help

744
00:38:50,491 --> 00:38:53,202
and successfully secured our first order

745
00:38:53,202 --> 00:38:56,288
from Hong Kong for digital watches.

746
00:38:56,288 --> 00:39:00,459
That was huge for us because in Taiwan,

747
00:39:00,459 --> 00:39:03,587
people thought imports were better

748
00:39:03,587 --> 00:39:06,048
for products like these.

749
00:39:06,048 --> 00:39:08,884
Nobody thought we could
make them in Taiwan.

750
00:39:08,884 --> 00:39:11,762
I remember it was
an order of 100,000 chips.

751
00:39:11,762 --> 00:39:13,722
What we had in mind lacked ambition.

752
00:39:13,722 --> 00:39:15,307
We never imagined

753
00:39:15,307 --> 00:39:18,268
a watch would have this much impact.

754
00:39:19,645 --> 00:39:22,205
I heard that later Chang Ching-chu

755
00:39:22,205 --> 00:39:25,150
ran into RCA's CEO,

756
00:39:25,150 --> 00:39:27,939
who told Chang that RCA's

757
00:39:27,939 --> 00:39:30,046
biggest miscalculation

758
00:39:30,046 --> 00:39:34,243
was transferring the technology to Taiwan,

759
00:39:34,243 --> 00:39:37,162
because they were no match for us.

760
00:39:37,997 --> 00:39:39,373
If memory serves,

761
00:39:39,373 --> 00:39:41,823
they promised a yield of

762
00:39:41,823 --> 00:39:44,462
40% in the contract.

763
00:39:45,963 --> 00:39:50,124
But on our first cut,

764
00:39:50,124 --> 00:39:54,638
we hit over 90%.

765
00:39:54,638 --> 00:39:56,023
By the second or third year,

766
00:39:56,023 --> 00:39:58,809
RCA tried to buy the pilot fab back.

767
00:39:59,476 --> 00:40:03,772
Some officials thought we should sell...

768
00:40:03,772 --> 00:40:05,691
just cash out and move on.

769
00:40:05,691 --> 00:40:07,735
Hu Ding-hua, along with
the director of the center

770
00:40:07,735 --> 00:40:09,862
and other top officials
like Premier Sun said,

771
00:40:09,862 --> 00:40:11,864
"This must take root. We're not selling."

772
00:40:11,864 --> 00:40:13,323
So we kept the pilot fab.

773
00:40:14,783 --> 00:40:19,705
Hu was like a squad leader
to those young engineers at ITRI.

774
00:40:19,705 --> 00:40:21,832
He led the mission forward

775
00:40:21,832 --> 00:40:25,294
and always had their back in tough times.

776
00:40:26,795 --> 00:40:28,688
I didn't know until later

777
00:40:28,688 --> 00:40:30,473
that when Pan Wen-yuan

778
00:40:30,473 --> 00:40:32,626
was about to launch the project,

779
00:40:32,626 --> 00:40:35,554
Hu called Pan and said

780
00:40:35,554 --> 00:40:39,349
he was willing to lead the project.

781
00:40:39,349 --> 00:40:43,353
That took courage because

782
00:40:43,353 --> 00:40:47,357
Pan barely knew him then.

783
00:40:47,357 --> 00:40:49,443
Hu said someone had to step up, so he did.

784
00:40:53,072 --> 00:40:54,799
The sense of mission

785
00:40:54,799 --> 00:40:57,159
this generation of pioneers had

786
00:40:57,159 --> 00:40:58,768
came from a deep sense of identity,

787
00:40:58,768 --> 00:41:00,537
and a looming crisis.

788
00:41:00,537 --> 00:41:03,767
In the 1970s,

789
00:41:03,767 --> 00:41:07,087
whether the place was called Taiwan,

790
00:41:07,087 --> 00:41:09,880
the Republic of China or China,

791
00:41:09,880 --> 00:41:14,259
the challenge was clear:

792
00:41:14,259 --> 00:41:17,748
How to carve out a future

793
00:41:17,748 --> 00:41:20,612
through relentless industrial

794
00:41:20,612 --> 00:41:23,352
and technological advancement.

795
00:41:48,460 --> 00:41:49,713
I remember when the U.S.

796
00:41:49,713 --> 00:41:51,588
broke off diplomatic relations
with Taiwan.

797
00:41:51,588 --> 00:41:53,757
We were on our way back
to the office after lunch.

798
00:41:53,757 --> 00:41:57,636
In front of the first ITRI building,

799
00:41:57,636 --> 00:41:59,539
we sat down and chatted.

800
00:41:59,539 --> 00:42:01,551
Now that the U.S. had severed

801
00:42:01,551 --> 00:42:03,559
diplomatic relations with Taiwan,

802
00:42:03,559 --> 00:42:05,902
the competition between Taiwan

803
00:42:05,902 --> 00:42:09,189
and China would get even tougher.

804
00:42:09,189 --> 00:42:14,611
Hu broke down in tears.

805
00:42:16,905 --> 00:42:19,533
We stood there,

806
00:42:21,743 --> 00:42:24,246
but had no idea how to comfort him.

807
00:43:11,793 --> 00:43:15,422
We met each other in 1976.

808
00:43:15,422 --> 00:43:19,509
I was 29, and Hu was 33.

809
00:43:19,509 --> 00:43:22,888
He never thought Taiwan's chip industry

810
00:43:22,888 --> 00:43:25,098
would scale up so much that

811
00:43:26,141 --> 00:43:29,311
it'd play a pivotal role in the world.

812
00:43:29,311 --> 00:43:31,813
President Hu never sought credit

813
00:43:31,813 --> 00:43:34,107
and was eager to promote young talent.

814
00:43:34,107 --> 00:43:36,068
He often urged young people

815
00:43:36,068 --> 00:43:37,660
to hold fast to what's right,

816
00:43:37,660 --> 00:43:39,238
and dare to innovate.

817
00:43:39,238 --> 00:43:41,365
I learned three things from him:

818
00:43:41,365 --> 00:43:44,701
honesty,

819
00:43:44,701 --> 00:43:46,745
discipline,

820
00:43:46,745 --> 00:43:48,304
and a vision that proved

821
00:43:48,304 --> 00:43:49,748
vital to Macronix's growth.

822
00:43:49,748 --> 00:43:51,707
Hu, your life was a gift

823
00:43:51,707 --> 00:43:53,710
to Taiwan's tech industry.

824
00:43:53,710 --> 00:43:56,255
You truly lived a life worth living.

825
00:43:56,255 --> 00:43:57,798
At the memorial service,

826
00:43:57,798 --> 00:44:01,301
I witnessed their camaraderie
from the old days

827
00:44:01,301 --> 00:44:06,223
and the true emotions these
tech pioneers rarely displayed.

828
00:44:06,223 --> 00:44:10,143
At that moment, I thought,
if this history isn't recorded,

829
00:44:10,143 --> 00:44:12,271
it would be Taiwan's loss.

830
00:44:13,021 --> 00:44:14,147
That very thought

831
00:44:14,147 --> 00:44:17,025
sparked the making of this documentary.

832
00:44:31,164 --> 00:44:33,583
What did the RCA project prove?

833
00:44:33,583 --> 00:44:35,318
It proved that Taiwan,

834
00:44:35,318 --> 00:44:40,465
this environment, these people

835
00:44:40,465 --> 00:44:44,219
could indeed build ICs. Any IC.

836
00:44:44,219 --> 00:44:46,595
The pilot fab made the chips,

837
00:44:46,595 --> 00:44:48,849
but that wasn't enough.

838
00:44:48,849 --> 00:44:52,352
Small scale doesn't make an industry.

839
00:44:52,352 --> 00:44:54,855
Scaling up, that's the real test.

840
00:44:54,855 --> 00:44:56,606
And that test was

841
00:44:56,606 --> 00:44:58,859
United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC).

842
00:44:58,859 --> 00:45:02,863
In 1980, ITRI transferred
the technology and talents

843
00:45:02,863 --> 00:45:05,490
to the company it founded, UMC.

844
00:45:05,490 --> 00:45:08,035
It was Taiwan's first homegrown company

845
00:45:08,035 --> 00:45:11,371
to design and manufacture
integrated circuits.

846
00:45:11,371 --> 00:45:15,917
And with that, it carried the weight
of industrializing semiconductors.

847
00:45:15,917 --> 00:45:18,795
Starting this industry

848
00:45:18,795 --> 00:45:20,672
took real courage from the government.

849
00:45:20,672 --> 00:45:23,175
Back then, it felt incredibly lonely.

850
00:45:24,051 --> 00:45:25,052
So very lonely.

851
00:45:25,052 --> 00:45:28,871
But you could feel the officials

852
00:45:28,871 --> 00:45:31,975
in charge genuinely cared.

853
00:45:31,975 --> 00:45:34,711
They took on huge pressure

854
00:45:34,711 --> 00:45:36,271
and never gave up.

855
00:45:36,271 --> 00:45:40,734
They really wanted to make it work.

856
00:45:41,651 --> 00:45:43,820
In the early days of UMC,

857
00:45:43,820 --> 00:45:45,739
we got a lot of help from the government.

858
00:45:45,739 --> 00:45:49,576
But we lagged in technology.

859
00:45:49,576 --> 00:45:51,870
We lacked talent. Our funding was limited.

860
00:45:51,870 --> 00:45:57,292
How could we use our limited resources

861
00:45:57,292 --> 00:45:58,585
to make money first,

862
00:45:58,585 --> 00:46:01,380
that was the only goal.

863
00:46:01,380 --> 00:46:03,173
Back then,

864
00:46:05,425 --> 00:46:09,930
there was no room for pride

865
00:46:09,930 --> 00:46:15,060
when it came to sales.

866
00:46:16,978 --> 00:46:20,232
We had to hustle hard for every deal.

867
00:46:20,232 --> 00:46:21,391
If you'd asked

868
00:46:21,391 --> 00:46:23,819
the public opinion back then

869
00:46:23,819 --> 00:46:26,195
whether Taiwan should do ICs,

870
00:46:26,195 --> 00:46:29,241
it would've been a resounding no.

871
00:46:29,241 --> 00:46:31,535
No one would've applauded us.

872
00:46:31,535 --> 00:46:33,336
When UMC started,

873
00:46:33,336 --> 00:46:34,996
CommonWealth Magazine said

874
00:46:34,996 --> 00:46:37,416
we were a crippled industry
heading for certain death.

875
00:46:38,583 --> 00:46:42,087
We barely scraped by until 1983

876
00:46:42,087 --> 00:46:44,339
when a golden opportunity appeared.

877
00:46:44,339 --> 00:46:46,550
In 1983, telephones were exported.

878
00:46:46,550 --> 00:46:48,593
Previously in the U.S., all home phones

879
00:46:48,593 --> 00:46:49,819
had to be installed

880
00:46:49,819 --> 00:46:51,388
by the phone companies.

881
00:46:51,388 --> 00:46:53,515
That year, phones became deregulated.

882
00:46:53,515 --> 00:46:55,725
People could install
their own phones at home.

883
00:46:55,725 --> 00:46:57,060
So we thought,

884
00:46:57,060 --> 00:46:59,729
this is big.

885
00:46:59,729 --> 00:47:05,485
Let's make ICs for telephones.

886
00:47:05,819 --> 00:47:10,323
Demand exploded.

887
00:47:10,323 --> 00:47:12,008
We worked nonstop for 9 months,

888
00:47:12,008 --> 00:47:14,369
even on the weekends.

889
00:47:14,369 --> 00:47:16,872
It was a massive opportunity.

890
00:47:16,872 --> 00:47:20,750
Our revenue jumped 500% by the next year.

891
00:47:20,750 --> 00:47:23,503
Our profit margin was over 30%,

892
00:47:23,503 --> 00:47:29,926
second only to the tobacco monopoly.

893
00:47:29,926 --> 00:47:32,095
From ITRI to UMC,

894
00:47:32,095 --> 00:47:35,682
with John Hsuan,
Robert Hsing-cheng Tsao and I.D. Liu.

895
00:47:35,682 --> 00:47:38,894
We all thought

896
00:47:38,894 --> 00:47:41,980
this was something we could fight for.

897
00:47:41,980 --> 00:47:44,073
Taiwan's startup spirit

898
00:47:44,073 --> 00:47:48,153
could rival Silicon Valley's.

899
00:47:50,989 --> 00:47:53,950
Once you've explained
the kind of help you need,

900
00:47:53,950 --> 00:47:57,412
the computer expert will show you
the system that's right for you,

901
00:47:57,412 --> 00:47:59,498
show you how simple it is to get started.

902
00:47:59,498 --> 00:48:02,709
And library of business
and management software

903
00:48:02,709 --> 00:48:04,419
can help you solve your problems.

904
00:48:04,419 --> 00:48:07,088
And give you a tool of modern times.

905
00:48:08,215 --> 00:48:10,550
Another key to UMC's success

906
00:48:10,550 --> 00:48:16,389
was the rise of the PC era,
heralded by IBM in 1981.

907
00:48:16,389 --> 00:48:19,851
Taiwan's PC and chip industries

908
00:48:19,851 --> 00:48:21,520
are uniquely positioned.

909
00:48:21,520 --> 00:48:26,149
We were ready.

910
00:48:26,149 --> 00:48:28,276
All we needed was a spark.

911
00:48:29,069 --> 00:48:30,779
In the '80s, Taiwan's economy took off.

912
00:48:30,779 --> 00:48:32,906
In the '80s, Taiwan's economy took off.

913
00:48:32,906 --> 00:48:36,284
It not only gave
semiconductors a cluster effect

914
00:48:36,284 --> 00:48:39,996
but also caught the wave
of global silicon tech.

915
00:48:41,206 --> 00:48:44,292
Today, areas around Hsinchu Science Park

916
00:48:44,292 --> 00:48:48,421
boast Taiwan's youngest
and richest population.

917
00:48:50,298 --> 00:48:51,407
When they were scouting

918
00:48:51,407 --> 00:48:53,426
for the site for the science park,

919
00:48:53,426 --> 00:48:55,303
President Chiang Ching-kuo

920
00:48:55,303 --> 00:48:58,223
was eyeing the old airfield in Taoyuan.

921
00:48:58,223 --> 00:49:01,851
No one dared to advise or object,

922
00:49:01,851 --> 00:49:04,187
except for Minister Shu Shien-siu.

923
00:49:04,187 --> 00:49:06,982
Shu spoke up and insisted on Hsinchu.

924
00:49:06,982 --> 00:49:11,187
He argued Hsinchu had the right ecosystem.

925
00:49:11,187 --> 00:49:15,240
Tsing Hua and Chiao Tung Universities,

926
00:49:15,240 --> 00:49:17,409
and ITRI were all there.

927
00:49:17,409 --> 00:49:19,411
So, he went to see President Chiang.

928
00:49:19,411 --> 00:49:21,788
He told me later on,

929
00:49:21,788 --> 00:49:24,540
"Actually, it's because I was

930
00:49:24,540 --> 00:49:26,960
the president of Tsing Hua University

931
00:49:26,960 --> 00:49:28,336
and I love Hsinchu."

932
00:49:29,921 --> 00:49:34,634
The science park was on 2,100 hectares.

933
00:49:34,634 --> 00:49:38,054
Three things were abundant there:

934
00:49:38,054 --> 00:49:42,475
Temples, cemeteries and military troops.

935
00:49:42,475 --> 00:49:46,771
Hsinchu Science Park began from zero.

936
00:49:46,771 --> 00:49:51,776
Our old house was as old as I was.

937
00:49:51,776 --> 00:49:55,030
When it was taken,

938
00:49:55,030 --> 00:49:57,032
it was very hard to let go.
Truly, very hard.

939
00:49:57,032 --> 00:50:00,118
This used to be our old family home.

940
00:50:00,118 --> 00:50:02,078
There were rice paddies out front.

941
00:50:02,078 --> 00:50:03,812
Across the street were more fields

942
00:50:03,812 --> 00:50:05,290
and a sugarcane farm.

943
00:50:05,290 --> 00:50:09,753
There was a shooting range just past TSMC.

944
00:50:09,753 --> 00:50:12,422
We used to run after the soldiers,

945
00:50:12,422 --> 00:50:17,385
trying to sell them guavas or soda.

946
00:50:17,385 --> 00:50:18,803
Life was hard.

947
00:50:18,803 --> 00:50:22,223
Now it's all high-tech factories.

948
00:50:27,187 --> 00:50:30,123
Our family was poor

949
00:50:30,123 --> 00:50:32,274
so I started working

950
00:50:32,274 --> 00:50:35,195
at UMC before I graduated.

951
00:50:35,195 --> 00:50:36,913
We had to start from scratch.

952
00:50:36,913 --> 00:50:38,798
They trained us from the ground up.

953
00:50:38,798 --> 00:50:42,118
We learned our work mattered.

954
00:50:42,118 --> 00:50:44,871
Chips are used in cars and factories,

955
00:50:44,871 --> 00:50:47,749
in planes and even space shuttles.

956
00:50:47,749 --> 00:50:49,392
We were repeatedly told

957
00:50:49,392 --> 00:50:51,211
to be super, super careful.

958
00:50:51,211 --> 00:50:53,162
When a chip wafer broke,

959
00:50:53,162 --> 00:50:54,756
we all panicked.

960
00:50:54,756 --> 00:50:56,591
We were terrified.

961
00:50:56,591 --> 00:50:57,967
Yeah, it happened a lot.

962
00:50:57,967 --> 00:51:00,436
The sound of a chip breaking

963
00:51:00,436 --> 00:51:01,596
scared us to death.

964
00:51:01,596 --> 00:51:04,432
"Who was it? Who did that?"

965
00:51:04,432 --> 00:51:07,268
"There goes your bonus this month!"

966
00:51:07,644 --> 00:51:09,378
Eight hours under a microscope

967
00:51:09,378 --> 00:51:10,522
was total eye strain.

968
00:51:10,522 --> 00:51:11,981
The light was so bright

969
00:51:11,981 --> 00:51:15,026
we didn't even realize tears were falling.

970
00:51:15,026 --> 00:51:17,696
The company infirmary
gave us cod liver oil.

971
00:51:17,696 --> 00:51:20,073
We were all poor back then.

972
00:51:20,073 --> 00:51:21,908
But the nurse was generous.

973
00:51:21,908 --> 00:51:24,661
She gave us as much as we wanted.

974
00:51:24,661 --> 00:51:25,971
Sometimes I'd take two.

975
00:51:25,971 --> 00:51:28,490
One for me, and one for my mom.

976
00:51:30,667 --> 00:51:33,044
We didn't understand stocks back then.

977
00:51:33,044 --> 00:51:34,904
Later we learned they could be cashed in.

978
00:51:34,904 --> 00:51:36,864
I still remember I sold a few UMC shares,

979
00:51:36,864 --> 00:51:39,092
and bought myself a car.

980
00:51:39,092 --> 00:51:41,970
I thought, well, stocks are great.

981
00:51:41,970 --> 00:51:43,646
They were all responsible

982
00:51:43,646 --> 00:51:48,101
and very cooperative.

983
00:51:48,101 --> 00:51:52,522
They worked overtime whenever asked.

984
00:51:52,522 --> 00:51:55,691
So the management

985
00:51:55,691 --> 00:51:59,154
was actually pretty easy.

986
00:51:59,154 --> 00:52:01,906
These two trees were gifts
from my coworkers at UMC.

987
00:52:01,906 --> 00:52:04,284
They were two tiny seedlings
when I got them.

988
00:52:04,284 --> 00:52:06,661
In 10 years, they've grown into big trees.

989
00:52:07,412 --> 00:52:09,539
I worked in Fab 2; she was in Fab 1.

990
00:52:09,539 --> 00:52:11,875
It was normal for us

991
00:52:11,875 --> 00:52:15,086
to meet a future spouse on the job.

992
00:52:15,086 --> 00:52:17,505
The engineers were friendly

993
00:52:17,505 --> 00:52:20,133
and always quick to help.

994
00:52:20,133 --> 00:52:21,301
That was pretty nice.

995
00:52:21,301 --> 00:52:24,053
I suppose that's how
a lot of sparks flew.

996
00:52:30,602 --> 00:52:32,896
To keep the fabs running smoothly,

997
00:52:32,896 --> 00:52:35,440
the machines cannot stop running.

998
00:52:35,440 --> 00:52:37,567
Line workers and engineers have to

999
00:52:37,567 --> 00:52:41,321
work three shifts and be on call 24/7.

1000
00:52:41,321 --> 00:52:44,324
When a problem occurs,
even in the middle of the night

1001
00:52:44,324 --> 00:52:48,077
or on a typhoon day,
they have to rush back to work.

1002
00:52:48,077 --> 00:52:50,622
Taiwan's living conditions

1003
00:52:50,622 --> 00:52:53,041
weren't exactly great back then.

1004
00:52:53,041 --> 00:52:56,127
People grasped any job opportunity tight.

1005
00:52:56,127 --> 00:52:58,755
A lasting memory is not having a car.

1006
00:52:58,755 --> 00:52:59,881
Then a typhoon hit.

1007
00:52:59,881 --> 00:53:02,383
The worse the situation,
the more people they needed.

1008
00:53:02,383 --> 00:53:05,804
So, I left home despite the storm.

1009
00:53:05,804 --> 00:53:07,555
No one asked how I'd get there.

1010
00:53:07,555 --> 00:53:10,767
You just found a way to show up.

1011
00:53:11,351 --> 00:53:13,686
You could say, Taiwanese workers
are simply more willing.

1012
00:53:13,686 --> 00:53:15,063
We're willing to take on the jobs

1013
00:53:15,063 --> 00:53:17,148
others don't want to do.

1014
00:53:17,148 --> 00:53:20,092
That's how, from the labor-intensive
to tech-intensive industries,

1015
00:53:20,092 --> 00:53:22,320
Taiwan was able to level up.

1016
00:53:22,320 --> 00:53:24,446
Taiwan's advantage is in manufacturing.

1017
00:53:24,446 --> 00:53:26,866
Our engineers work hard.

1018
00:53:26,866 --> 00:53:29,285
Honestly, our salaries aren't high.

1019
00:53:29,285 --> 00:53:32,455
Compared to global standards,

1020
00:53:32,455 --> 00:53:34,056
Taiwanese engineers earn only

1021
00:53:34,056 --> 00:53:35,792
a third of that from Silicon Valley.

1022
00:53:35,792 --> 00:53:37,660
But they're willing to work overtime

1023
00:53:37,660 --> 00:53:39,254
with long hours,

1024
00:53:39,254 --> 00:53:40,829
even to get called back

1025
00:53:40,829 --> 00:53:42,614
in the middle of the night.

1026
00:53:42,614 --> 00:53:45,176
That's the culture that built

1027
00:53:45,176 --> 00:53:47,262
Taiwan's strength in manufacturing.

1028
00:54:21,629 --> 00:54:23,590
Today, we're here to witness

1029
00:54:23,590 --> 00:54:26,676
the inaugural KT Li Award presentation.

1030
00:54:26,676 --> 00:54:28,711
First, congratulations
to its first recipient,

1031
00:54:28,711 --> 00:54:30,597
TSMC Founder Morris Chang.

1032
00:54:30,597 --> 00:54:31,847
Later this month,

1033
00:54:31,847 --> 00:54:33,558
Mr. Chang will represent me

1034
00:54:33,558 --> 00:54:35,392
at the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting

1035
00:54:35,392 --> 00:54:36,769
for the sixth time,

1036
00:54:36,769 --> 00:54:38,771
once again showing the world that

1037
00:54:38,771 --> 00:54:43,151
Taiwan is a capable and trusted partner.

1038
00:54:47,363 --> 00:54:50,575
I'd also like to introduce a special guest.

1039
00:54:50,575 --> 00:54:54,954
Welcome to Nvidia's
Mr. Jensen Huang and his wife.

1040
00:54:54,954 --> 00:54:57,790
TSMC makes chips for every industry today.

1041
00:54:57,790 --> 00:55:02,253
No company today or in history

1042
00:55:02,253 --> 00:55:08,009
has ever had the reach and impact of TSMC.

1043
00:55:08,009 --> 00:55:12,472
Elephants can dance.

1044
00:55:12,472 --> 00:55:17,143
Morris raised one
that jumps through hoops.

1045
00:55:21,856 --> 00:55:24,359
And without TSMC,

1046
00:55:24,359 --> 00:55:28,446
the entire world's technology industries
today would not be possible.

1047
00:55:36,120 --> 00:55:39,874
In 1976, I was invited by METS

1048
00:55:39,874 --> 00:55:43,419
to give a speech in Taiwan.

1049
00:55:43,419 --> 00:55:50,393
I was at the peak of my career

1050
00:55:50,393 --> 00:55:52,387
at Texas Instruments.

1051
00:55:52,387 --> 00:55:56,140
Mr. KT Li was in the audience.

1052
00:55:56,140 --> 00:55:59,201
After the speech, he came right over

1053
00:55:59,201 --> 00:56:03,231
to shake my hand and invited me to dinner.

1054
00:56:03,231 --> 00:56:06,025
The first time KT
invited Morris Chang over,

1055
00:56:06,025 --> 00:56:08,319
I was asked to show him around.

1056
00:56:08,319 --> 00:56:10,488
The whole industry in Taiwan

1057
00:56:10,488 --> 00:56:13,700
was smaller than Hewlett-Packard.

1058
00:56:13,700 --> 00:56:15,201
But still, I took him to see

1059
00:56:15,201 --> 00:56:17,412
what Taiwan's electronics
industry looked like.

1060
00:56:17,412 --> 00:56:19,914
After the visit, I also wrote a report.

1061
00:56:19,914 --> 00:56:25,420
Taiwan's industry wasn't
very flattering at the time.

1062
00:56:25,420 --> 00:56:30,258
But the report itself was immaterial.

1063
00:56:30,258 --> 00:56:33,302
It was not even that important

1064
00:56:33,302 --> 00:56:36,222
because I think

1065
00:56:36,222 --> 00:56:38,266
KT's true intention was

1066
00:56:38,266 --> 00:56:41,352
to get me to come to Taiwan.

1067
00:56:41,352 --> 00:56:45,273
None of my recommendations were adopted.

1068
00:56:46,649 --> 00:56:49,277
In Taiwan's early development,

1069
00:56:49,277 --> 00:56:51,529
we often struggled with self-doubt,

1070
00:56:51,529 --> 00:56:55,783
wondering when

1071
00:56:55,783 --> 00:56:59,203
a truly capable leader would emerge.

1072
00:56:59,203 --> 00:57:01,080
Morris Chang stood out early on

1073
00:57:01,080 --> 00:57:03,817
as a leading figure

1074
00:57:03,817 --> 00:57:05,793
in the global semiconductor industry,

1075
00:57:05,793 --> 00:57:12,008
someone Taiwan's government could trust.

1076
00:57:12,008 --> 00:57:17,513
In 1985, I was at General Instrument.

1077
00:57:17,513 --> 00:57:21,484
That's when Shu Shien-siu

1078
00:57:21,484 --> 00:57:22,977
came to recruit me.

1079
00:57:22,977 --> 00:57:25,313
My first task was to lead ITRI.

1080
00:57:25,313 --> 00:57:29,817
But the real mission was

1081
00:57:29,817 --> 00:57:33,905
to establish a semiconductor company.

1082
00:57:33,905 --> 00:57:40,421
KT asked to see me

1083
00:57:40,421 --> 00:57:44,573
three weeks after

1084
00:57:44,573 --> 00:57:46,751
I started my job at ITRI.

1085
00:57:47,460 --> 00:57:51,172
From 1985 until the founding of TSMC.

1086
00:57:51,172 --> 00:57:55,134
Indeed, TSMC wouldn't be here without KT.

1087
00:57:59,388 --> 00:58:02,600
To keep up with global silicon technology,

1088
00:58:02,600 --> 00:58:03,697
ITRI launched

1089
00:58:03,697 --> 00:58:06,938
the VLSI (Very-Large-Scale Integration)
Development Project.

1090
00:58:07,897 --> 00:58:14,070
In a decade, Taiwan invited Morris Chang
back three times.

1091
00:58:14,070 --> 00:58:16,948
Behind this eagerness and urgency

1092
00:58:16,948 --> 00:58:20,076
was a nation grappling with its fate.

1093
00:58:20,952 --> 00:58:25,790
In 1985, Chang finally returned

1094
00:58:25,790 --> 00:58:28,376
and became the President of ITRI.

1095
00:58:28,376 --> 00:58:29,818
He asked Hu Ding-hua

1096
00:58:29,818 --> 00:58:32,630
to draw up a TSMC proposal.

1097
00:58:32,630 --> 00:58:35,224
They submitted it to the Executive Yuan

1098
00:58:35,224 --> 00:58:37,193
and presented it to

1099
00:58:37,193 --> 00:58:38,970
then Premier Yu Kuo-hwa.

1100
00:58:39,887 --> 00:58:43,516
On September 10, 1985,

1101
00:58:43,516 --> 00:58:49,105
Chang presented Taiwan's VLSI roadmap

1102
00:58:49,105 --> 00:58:51,941
to top government officials

1103
00:58:51,941 --> 00:58:53,416
from the Executive Yuan and

1104
00:58:53,416 --> 00:58:56,904
the Council for Economic
Planning and Development.

1105
00:58:56,904 --> 00:58:59,657
At that time, Taiwan was just

1106
00:58:59,657 --> 00:59:01,701
beginning to consider investing in VLSI.

1107
00:59:01,701 --> 00:59:03,161
But the proposal mentions that

1108
00:59:03,161 --> 00:59:05,496
the U.S., Western Europe and Japan

1109
00:59:05,496 --> 00:59:08,875
were already deep in the race.

1110
00:59:08,875 --> 00:59:12,044
There wouldn't be short-term profit.

1111
00:59:12,044 --> 00:59:13,495
For Taiwan, also known as

1112
00:59:13,495 --> 00:59:15,131
the Republic of China (R.O.C.),

1113
00:59:15,131 --> 00:59:17,334
VLSI was a long-term gamble

1114
00:59:17,334 --> 00:59:19,427
with high stakes.

1115
00:59:19,427 --> 00:59:21,170
It was a gamble that demanded

1116
00:59:21,170 --> 00:59:24,390
serious consideration.

1117
00:59:24,891 --> 00:59:27,143
Building a transistor
is like building a house.

1118
00:59:27,143 --> 00:59:29,312
But you will slowly realize that

1119
00:59:29,312 --> 00:59:33,191
to build houses into a community,

1120
00:59:33,191 --> 00:59:34,783
that community takes

1121
00:59:34,783 --> 00:59:36,235
infrastructure and design.

1122
00:59:36,235 --> 00:59:37,904
Today,

1123
00:59:37,904 --> 00:59:40,364
the Very-Large-Scale Integration (VLSI)

1124
00:59:40,364 --> 00:59:42,950
isn't just a house.

1125
00:59:42,950 --> 00:59:45,411
It's the making of a city.

1126
00:59:46,245 --> 00:59:48,915
Why did the government get involved?

1127
00:59:48,915 --> 00:59:51,584
Why not leave it to private companies?

1128
00:59:51,584 --> 00:59:54,253
We wanted the technology
to take root in Taiwan.

1129
00:59:54,253 --> 00:59:58,799
Self-developed and under our control.

1130
00:59:58,799 --> 01:00:00,176
That's why they did it.

1131
01:00:00,176 --> 01:00:02,319
Otherwise, we could've just relied

1132
01:00:02,319 --> 01:00:04,096
on technology transfer forever.

1133
01:00:04,096 --> 01:00:08,100
Buying or building, they both cost money.

1134
01:00:08,100 --> 01:00:13,564
What you buy is tried and true.

1135
01:00:13,564 --> 01:00:15,983
What you build comes with risks,

1136
01:00:15,983 --> 01:00:18,945
but you'll own it forever.

1137
01:00:18,945 --> 01:00:22,949
So yes, the government gave us money.

1138
01:00:22,949 --> 01:00:25,409
But we carried the flag
to build homegrown technology.

1139
01:00:25,409 --> 01:00:28,996
It's a future we could own.

1140
01:00:30,998 --> 01:00:33,876
Presidential Decree: Taiwan Area,

1141
01:00:33,876 --> 01:00:38,839
Martial law lifted
effective July 15, 1987, at 00:00.

1142
01:00:48,474 --> 01:00:51,644
ITRI's second major
tech transfer plan succeeded.

1143
01:00:51,644 --> 01:00:54,272
Led by Morris Chang,
then President of ITRI,

1144
01:00:54,272 --> 01:00:56,357
TSMC was born.

1145
01:00:56,941 --> 01:00:59,151
Looking back at 1987,

1146
01:00:59,151 --> 01:01:01,946
it was a pivotal year
for Taiwan's political,

1147
01:01:01,946 --> 01:01:05,157
economic and social transformation.

1148
01:01:05,157 --> 01:01:07,201
The funding wasn't raised

1149
01:01:07,201 --> 01:01:09,245
entirely by Morris Chang.

1150
01:01:09,245 --> 01:01:12,206
He had just gotten back.
How could he have done it?

1151
01:01:12,206 --> 01:01:14,884
It was KT Li who got the money

1152
01:01:14,884 --> 01:01:17,169
from the government.

1153
01:01:17,169 --> 01:01:19,563
He brought in Chiao Tung Bank

1154
01:01:19,563 --> 01:01:21,966
and persuaded Philips

1155
01:01:21,966 --> 01:01:25,511
to invest in 27% of the company.

1156
01:01:25,511 --> 01:01:26,762
He even convinced

1157
01:01:26,762 --> 01:01:28,288
business tycoon Wang Yung-ching.

1158
01:01:28,288 --> 01:01:29,932
Wang said, "Mr. Li,

1159
01:01:29,932 --> 01:01:32,435
I don't know what a semiconductor is,

1160
01:01:32,435 --> 01:01:34,770
but I'll invest if you ask me to."

1161
01:01:34,770 --> 01:01:36,397
Rumor has it that

1162
01:01:36,397 --> 01:01:38,741
Wang regretted that

1163
01:01:38,741 --> 01:01:40,693
he sold the stocks too soon.

1164
01:01:40,693 --> 01:01:42,862
He told his people

1165
01:01:42,862 --> 01:01:44,512
that he lost the equivalent of

1166
01:01:44,512 --> 01:01:46,741
a billion-dollar company.

1167
01:01:46,741 --> 01:01:51,954
In Silicon Valley, we say:

1168
01:01:51,954 --> 01:01:54,373
You either win big or lose it all.

1169
01:01:54,373 --> 01:01:56,625
Winner takes all.

1170
01:01:56,625 --> 01:01:59,628
Whoever wins takes it all.

1171
01:01:59,628 --> 01:02:01,380
Whoever wins takes the whole game.

1172
01:02:01,380 --> 01:02:04,967
Morris had the guts to go all in.

1173
01:02:04,967 --> 01:02:06,225
And KT Li dared to back

1174
01:02:06,225 --> 01:02:08,054
TSMC and UMC with massive funding.

1175
01:02:08,054 --> 01:02:10,765
It was unheard of.

1176
01:02:10,765 --> 01:02:12,974
Having listened to the talk in 1987,

1177
01:02:12,974 --> 01:02:15,018
my boss at IBM said,

1178
01:02:15,018 --> 01:02:17,680
"Taiwan thinks it can catch up

1179
01:02:17,680 --> 01:02:20,399
by manufacturing chips

1180
01:02:20,399 --> 01:02:25,071
without original design?"

1181
01:02:25,071 --> 01:02:28,616
He laughed and said, "That's crazy."

1182
01:02:28,616 --> 01:02:29,533
Crazy.

1183
01:02:29,533 --> 01:02:32,286
Even the industrial sector
was not optimistic

1184
01:02:32,286 --> 01:02:36,374
about TSMC's bold move
into pure-play foundry.

1185
01:02:36,374 --> 01:02:39,502
At the time,
contract manufacturing and OEM

1186
01:02:39,502 --> 01:02:42,046
was seen as low-tech and low-margin.

1187
01:02:42,046 --> 01:02:44,715
In 1987, "Made in Taiwan"

1188
01:02:44,715 --> 01:02:48,219
was even the butt of a joke
in a Hollywood film.

1189
01:03:00,981 --> 01:03:04,235
Come on, come on.

1190
01:03:13,744 --> 01:03:15,037
Is it made in Taiwan?

1191
01:03:15,037 --> 01:03:17,415
Yeah. These are tough to find.

1192
01:03:22,711 --> 01:03:24,130
If you're truly brilliant,

1193
01:03:24,130 --> 01:03:27,091
will you choose to be an OEM?

1194
01:03:27,091 --> 01:03:30,761
Wouldn't you rather create something new?

1195
01:03:30,761 --> 01:03:33,055
Foundry work means vanishing

1196
01:03:33,055 --> 01:03:35,474
into someone else's machine,

1197
01:03:35,474 --> 01:03:37,601
blending in with someone else's products.

1198
01:03:37,601 --> 01:03:39,562
You'd always be an unsung hero.

1199
01:03:39,562 --> 01:03:43,524
In the late 1990s, we were OEMs.

1200
01:03:43,524 --> 01:03:46,610
I believe many looked down on Taiwan.

1201
01:03:46,610 --> 01:03:49,822
How could OEMs be great?

1202
01:03:49,822 --> 01:03:51,073
That's just impossible.

1203
01:03:51,073 --> 01:03:53,367
I think the amazing thing about Taiwan is

1204
01:03:53,367 --> 01:04:01,459
it never let the stigma of OEM

1205
01:04:01,459 --> 01:04:03,869
limit its imagination of

1206
01:04:03,869 --> 01:04:06,255
what foundry could become.

1207
01:04:07,882 --> 01:04:12,219
The decision to start TSMC
was a big gamble for Taiwan.

1208
01:04:12,970 --> 01:04:15,097
At ITRI, Hu and Shih

1209
01:04:15,097 --> 01:04:18,350
did their best to talk Tseng Fan-cheng into

1210
01:04:18,350 --> 01:04:21,645
leading the RandD team at TSMC.

1211
01:04:22,313 --> 01:04:26,358
Tseng became TSMC's first local hire.

1212
01:04:28,611 --> 01:04:31,530
(You came back and found
Shih and Hu waiting for you.)

1213
01:04:31,530 --> 01:04:33,157
(What was that like?)

1214
01:04:33,157 --> 01:04:37,119
Shih asked me to take the job.

1215
01:04:37,119 --> 01:04:39,220
They said if I didn't,

1216
01:04:39,220 --> 01:04:41,373
there'd be no one to lead the team.

1217
01:04:41,373 --> 01:04:46,962
So, I said yes.

1218
01:04:46,962 --> 01:04:49,089
We'd have been done for if he had refused.

1219
01:04:49,089 --> 01:04:51,091
(But how did you manage to persuade him?)

1220
01:04:51,091 --> 01:04:53,511
I said if he didn't do it, we'd be doomed.

1221
01:04:53,511 --> 01:04:56,138
He was the one who
understood IC production,

1222
01:04:56,138 --> 01:04:58,724
including RandD operations.

1223
01:04:58,724 --> 01:05:00,267
I said, "If you don't accept the job,

1224
01:05:00,267 --> 01:05:03,854
starting this company will be pointless."

1225
01:05:03,854 --> 01:05:06,815
He couldn't name anyone else
to take the job, either.

1226
01:05:09,276 --> 01:05:11,237
Then Hu told me,

1227
01:05:11,237 --> 01:05:12,863
"You're driving on the highway.

1228
01:05:12,863 --> 01:05:16,283
You can't get off until the next exit.

1229
01:05:16,283 --> 01:05:17,910
You can't jump out of the car halfway."

1230
01:05:19,161 --> 01:05:20,746
Situated at ITRI,

1231
01:05:20,746 --> 01:05:22,581
this unassuming office building

1232
01:05:22,581 --> 01:05:25,793
was leased to TSMC back in the days.

1233
01:05:25,793 --> 01:05:28,629
It became TSMC Fab 1.

1234
01:05:28,629 --> 01:05:33,092
Now, this landmark quietly
stands as a witness to history.

1235
01:05:34,927 --> 01:05:38,722
The winter of 1990 was bitterly cold.

1236
01:05:38,722 --> 01:05:41,683
I was the RandD manager.

1237
01:05:41,683 --> 01:05:44,645
I had 23 people

1238
01:05:44,645 --> 01:05:50,109
who were driving process RandD.

1239
01:05:50,109 --> 01:05:51,760
I was called a manager,

1240
01:05:51,760 --> 01:05:54,738
but in reality I was the head of RandD.

1241
01:05:54,738 --> 01:05:59,243
I remember that one day,

1242
01:05:59,243 --> 01:06:01,237
I spent all morning trying

1243
01:06:01,237 --> 01:06:03,163
to talk people out of leaving.

1244
01:06:03,163 --> 01:06:06,292
Many were headed to Macronix.

1245
01:06:06,292 --> 01:06:08,276
I asked them why.

1246
01:06:08,276 --> 01:06:09,878
"Isn't TSMC a nice place?"

1247
01:06:09,878 --> 01:06:11,922
They said, "TSMC has no products.

1248
01:06:11,922 --> 01:06:15,509
An OEM has no future."

1249
01:06:17,303 --> 01:06:20,264
In just a few days,

1250
01:06:20,264 --> 01:06:23,726
I lost a third of my team. Seven quit.

1251
01:06:23,726 --> 01:06:27,646
Only 16 or 17 remained.

1252
01:06:28,564 --> 01:06:33,360
Nobody expected us to do well,

1253
01:06:33,360 --> 01:06:36,280
not even ourselves.

1254
01:06:44,330 --> 01:06:46,248
Morris Chang knew from the start

1255
01:06:46,248 --> 01:06:51,378
that we had to reach the global market.

1256
01:06:51,378 --> 01:06:54,256
If we only served

1257
01:06:54,256 --> 01:06:55,674
local design houses in Taiwan

1258
01:06:55,674 --> 01:06:57,009
we were bound to fail.

1259
01:06:57,009 --> 01:06:59,094
So even at the company's founding,

1260
01:06:59,094 --> 01:07:01,762
he approached Intel and Philips

1261
01:07:01,762 --> 01:07:04,933
for a technology agreement.

1262
01:07:04,933 --> 01:07:06,985
When I first reported to Mr. Chang,

1263
01:07:06,985 --> 01:07:10,230
he said we had to lead in technology.

1264
01:07:10,230 --> 01:07:11,640
I thought I did my best

1265
01:07:11,640 --> 01:07:13,067
to gently inform Mr. Chang that,

1266
01:07:13,067 --> 01:07:19,990
if we wanted to be the leader,

1267
01:07:19,990 --> 01:07:22,326
it would cost us dearly.

1268
01:07:22,326 --> 01:07:25,621
Second place is safer.

1269
01:07:25,621 --> 01:07:29,375
You need only one third of the RandD cost,

1270
01:07:29,375 --> 01:07:31,543
and you won't trail far behind.

1271
01:07:31,543 --> 01:07:34,463
Maybe by only six months to a year.

1272
01:07:34,463 --> 01:07:36,632
You'll be drafting off the leader.

1273
01:07:36,632 --> 01:07:41,470
I laid out the case for being second.

1274
01:07:41,470 --> 01:07:43,722
But he looked me straight

1275
01:07:43,722 --> 01:07:46,308
in the eye and said strictly:

1276
01:07:46,308 --> 01:07:48,394
"We should never think that way."

1277
01:07:49,228 --> 01:07:52,398
TSMC's rise to No. 1 in chip foundry

1278
01:07:52,398 --> 01:07:57,361
was built on in-house RandD
and relentless yield improvement.

1279
01:07:57,361 --> 01:08:00,447
Launching the "Five Mountains Plan"
in 1998

1280
01:08:00,447 --> 01:08:03,909
and refusing to collaborate
with IBM in 2000

1281
01:08:03,909 --> 01:08:07,830
were two turning points
that anchored its future trajectory.

1282
01:08:07,830 --> 01:08:10,457
We couldn't name
the clients aloud due to NDAs.

1283
01:08:10,457 --> 01:08:14,294
So, I named the plan after
Taiwan's five sacred mountains,

1284
01:08:14,294 --> 01:08:16,672
each mountain stood for one company.

1285
01:08:16,672 --> 01:08:22,553
They were Mt. Snow, Mt. Jade, Mt. Nanhu,

1286
01:08:22,553 --> 01:08:26,515
Mt. Xiuguluan and Mt. Beidawu.

1287
01:08:26,515 --> 01:08:29,226
The "Five Mountains Plan"
involved partnering with

1288
01:08:29,226 --> 01:08:33,230
five global IDMs to manufacture
chips in parallel.

1289
01:08:33,230 --> 01:08:37,568
TSMC aimed to elevate
its technology through collaboration.

1290
01:08:37,568 --> 01:08:40,195
When I proposed this idea,
the team had doubts,

1291
01:08:40,195 --> 01:08:43,782
worrying that there'd be too many
types of clients to handle.

1292
01:08:43,782 --> 01:08:46,210
I said if we couldn't beat them now,

1293
01:08:46,210 --> 01:08:47,903
we would never be able to scale up.

1294
01:08:47,903 --> 01:08:49,872
That's why I fought to win IDM customers.

1295
01:08:49,872 --> 01:08:52,109
That's why I launched

1296
01:08:52,109 --> 01:08:54,335
the Five Mountains Plan.

1297
01:08:54,835 --> 01:08:57,838
Pushing for self-reliant RandD wasn't easy.

1298
01:08:57,838 --> 01:08:59,631
In 2000,

1299
01:08:59,631 --> 01:09:04,970
a senior VP of IBM came to Taiwan.

1300
01:09:04,970 --> 01:09:08,515
He said, "We have the tech.

1301
01:09:08,515 --> 01:09:13,896
We could teach you.

1302
01:09:13,896 --> 01:09:16,523
Just send your team to New York.

1303
01:09:16,523 --> 01:09:18,567
We can teach you and
you'll get to bring it home.

1304
01:09:18,567 --> 01:09:21,653
You just need to pay the license fee."

1305
01:09:24,406 --> 01:09:28,285
IBM was a giant at that time.

1306
01:09:28,285 --> 01:09:33,490
In 1999, IBM invited us

1307
01:09:33,490 --> 01:09:38,670
into a joint RandD project.

1308
01:09:39,421 --> 01:09:41,465
But IBM's terms and conditions
were absurd.

1309
01:09:41,465 --> 01:09:43,967
TSMC had to shut down its own RandD.

1310
01:09:44,635 --> 01:09:46,303
I said I can't stop TSMC's RandD.

1311
01:09:46,303 --> 01:09:47,346
But UMC joined IBM.

1312
01:09:47,346 --> 01:09:49,397
Chang was a bit annoyed

1313
01:09:49,397 --> 01:09:51,683
with me at the time.

1314
01:09:51,683 --> 01:09:54,061
"Why didn't you run this by me?"

1315
01:09:54,061 --> 01:09:56,063
I said, "I did ask you once.

1316
01:09:56,063 --> 01:09:58,482
But if giving up RandD is the price,
I won't pay it."

1317
01:09:58,482 --> 01:10:00,442
That was my line.

1318
01:10:00,442 --> 01:10:02,528
I never backed down.

1319
01:10:03,320 --> 01:10:04,321
Tseng's resolve

1320
01:10:04,321 --> 01:10:08,450
led TSMC down a difficult RandD path,

1321
01:10:08,450 --> 01:10:11,620
but it proved to be the road to success.

1322
01:10:11,620 --> 01:10:13,372
To stay competitive,

1323
01:10:13,372 --> 01:10:16,667
UMC also turned into a foundry.

1324
01:10:16,667 --> 01:10:20,003
It briefly became TSMC's biggest rival,

1325
01:10:20,003 --> 01:10:24,758
but in just two years
TSMC pulled ahead of IBM,

1326
01:10:24,758 --> 01:10:28,595
while UMC's partnership
with IBM fell apart.

1327
01:10:29,888 --> 01:10:31,572
Many industries in Taiwan

1328
01:10:31,572 --> 01:10:33,308
rely on licensed tech.

1329
01:10:33,308 --> 01:10:35,644
In the end, they never grow big.

1330
01:10:37,020 --> 01:10:42,442
DRAM and panels, same story.

1331
01:10:42,442 --> 01:10:45,070
I think this is the key,

1332
01:10:45,070 --> 01:10:46,196
not only to TSMC,

1333
01:10:46,196 --> 01:10:49,457
but also when it comes to

1334
01:10:49,457 --> 01:10:52,828
Taiwan's industrial upgrade.

1335
01:10:52,828 --> 01:10:55,163
It's not just about making money.

1336
01:10:55,163 --> 01:11:00,002
Making more money isn't the priority.

1337
01:11:00,002 --> 01:11:04,840
What matters is staying in the game.

1338
01:11:04,840 --> 01:11:08,468
I believe TSMC decided at the time

1339
01:11:08,468 --> 01:11:12,890
to build its own RandD capability.

1340
01:11:12,890 --> 01:11:16,768
I guess that's why they hired me.

1341
01:11:18,103 --> 01:11:20,230
You can look at it this way.
It's easier to shoot.

1342
01:11:20,230 --> 01:11:22,399
I used to use this 8mm camera a lot.

1343
01:11:27,613 --> 01:11:28,906
I studied optics.

1344
01:11:28,906 --> 01:11:31,132
I never dreamed of working

1345
01:11:31,132 --> 01:11:33,660
on optics in a chip company.

1346
01:11:33,660 --> 01:11:35,871
But it turns out that
optics is very critical

1347
01:11:35,871 --> 01:11:38,332
and not many people understand it.

1348
01:11:38,332 --> 01:11:42,044
They knew semiconductors well,
but not as much for optics.

1349
01:11:42,961 --> 01:11:44,463
Dr. Burn J. Lin's immersion lithography

1350
01:11:44,463 --> 01:11:46,089
Dr. Burn J. Lin's immersion lithography

1351
01:11:46,089 --> 01:11:47,925
broke Moore's Law

1352
01:11:47,925 --> 01:11:53,305
and let TSMC shape industry
standards for the very first time.

1353
01:11:53,305 --> 01:11:57,643
I saw some young people from church once.

1354
01:11:57,643 --> 01:12:00,395
They also worked at TSMC.

1355
01:12:00,395 --> 01:12:02,798
They said Mr. Lin seemed

1356
01:12:02,798 --> 01:12:05,150
to be under a lot of stress.

1357
01:12:05,150 --> 01:12:07,527
I said, "Really? I can't tell."

1358
01:12:07,527 --> 01:12:10,322
They told me the decision he made

1359
01:12:10,322 --> 01:12:15,077
would affect TSMC for the next 5 years.

1360
01:12:15,077 --> 01:12:17,537
It was only the beginning.

1361
01:12:17,537 --> 01:12:20,666
They said the stress was enormous

1362
01:12:20,666 --> 01:12:22,793
because he had to succeed.

1363
01:12:22,793 --> 01:12:24,419
I asked him after I got home.

1364
01:12:24,419 --> 01:12:26,964
He said he'd take it one step at a time.

1365
01:12:26,964 --> 01:12:28,465
It was alright.

1366
01:12:28,465 --> 01:12:33,512
She's right. Usually, I show

1367
01:12:33,512 --> 01:12:35,555
no ups or downs

1368
01:12:35,555 --> 01:12:38,392
because I believe in God.

1369
01:12:38,392 --> 01:12:40,268
Someone at work once asked me,

1370
01:12:40,268 --> 01:12:42,104
"If your idea's so good,

1371
01:12:42,104 --> 01:12:45,315
why hasn't Intel done it?"

1372
01:12:45,315 --> 01:12:47,651
I said, "If we wait for Intel to do it,

1373
01:12:47,651 --> 01:12:50,278
how will we ever lead?"

1374
01:12:51,613 --> 01:12:54,992
In the global arena of
high-tech competition,

1375
01:12:54,992 --> 01:12:57,911
only by relying on tech self-reliance

1376
01:12:57,911 --> 01:13:00,539
can one secure a leading position.

1377
01:13:01,206 --> 01:13:03,542
Looking back at where we came from,

1378
01:13:03,542 --> 01:13:06,003
for these seed engineers,

1379
01:13:06,003 --> 01:13:09,214
wasn't this the future
they had always hoped for?

1380
01:13:11,383 --> 01:13:13,427
Turn right ahead.
I think it's the second right.

1381
01:13:13,427 --> 01:13:16,138
We're navigating by memory now.

1382
01:13:16,138 --> 01:13:18,932
Every summer when mangoes were in season,

1383
01:13:18,932 --> 01:13:20,392
my father would send me a box.

1384
01:13:20,392 --> 01:13:24,438
After I ate them, I buried the pits,

1385
01:13:24,438 --> 01:13:26,690
and a tree grew out of them.

1386
01:13:27,357 --> 01:13:28,900
You said it was over 40 years ago?

1387
01:13:28,900 --> 01:13:32,654
When I moved here, it was 1983.

1388
01:13:32,654 --> 01:13:34,948
So you've never tasted one?

1389
01:13:34,948 --> 01:13:36,783
None from this tree.

1390
01:13:36,783 --> 01:13:39,036
They should save one or two
for you when they harvest.

1391
01:13:39,036 --> 01:13:44,041
It's like a tech transfer.

1392
01:13:44,041 --> 01:13:47,210
I brought it here, and it grew.

1393
01:13:47,210 --> 01:13:49,296
I didn't think it would bear fruit,

1394
01:13:49,296 --> 01:13:52,007
but it did the very next year.

1395
01:13:54,259 --> 01:13:57,763
I haven't been back to the dorm in years.

1396
01:13:57,763 --> 01:13:59,890
And now, look how tall it's grown.

1397
01:14:21,203 --> 01:14:23,080
(Do you often come here to exercise?)

1398
01:14:23,080 --> 01:14:25,665
Yes, the sight of ducks is relaxing.

1399
01:14:25,665 --> 01:14:28,835
Walking with MediaTek Chairman
Tsai by the lake,

1400
01:14:28,835 --> 01:14:31,088
we talked about Taiwan's tech industry

1401
01:14:31,088 --> 01:14:34,466
and the rapid business cycles it survives.

1402
01:14:34,466 --> 01:14:37,886
Suddenly he saw the lake
full of lotus in bloom.

1403
01:14:37,886 --> 01:14:40,847
He turned and asked me, "What's next?"

1404
01:14:40,847 --> 01:14:43,266
Look at all these blossoms.

1405
01:14:43,266 --> 01:14:48,688
They remind me of our products.

1406
01:14:48,688 --> 01:14:51,650
When they bloom, they bloom big.

1407
01:14:51,650 --> 01:14:54,861
Millions are sold every year.

1408
01:14:55,695 --> 01:14:56,971
When it rains,

1409
01:14:56,971 --> 01:14:58,698
it's like a financial crisis.

1410
01:14:59,324 --> 01:15:01,326
These cycles come every year.

1411
01:15:01,326 --> 01:15:03,078
So when I see this,

1412
01:15:03,078 --> 01:15:05,605
I wonder, "What's next?"

1413
01:15:12,963 --> 01:15:16,341
"What's next?" is not only
a test of business cycle,

1414
01:15:16,341 --> 01:15:20,846
but also a question of
national direction and survival.

1415
01:15:27,602 --> 01:15:30,981
Taiwan was really poor back then.

1416
01:15:30,981 --> 01:15:34,526
We had no money, no technology, no talent.

1417
01:15:34,526 --> 01:15:38,238
At the time, everything was hard.

1418
01:15:38,238 --> 01:15:41,324
Another thing is, no one knew who we were.

1419
01:15:41,324 --> 01:15:43,118
What's Taiwan? What's ITRI?

1420
01:15:43,118 --> 01:15:44,619
No one had heard of it.

1421
01:15:44,619 --> 01:15:46,454
That was the hardest part.

1422
01:15:46,454 --> 01:15:48,540
I remember that after each project,

1423
01:15:48,540 --> 01:15:50,667
my team would ask, "Was the mission done?

1424
01:15:50,667 --> 01:15:52,210
Could we stop now?"

1425
01:15:52,210 --> 01:15:54,095
But we realized we couldn't,

1426
01:15:54,095 --> 01:15:55,964
because the world kept changing.

1427
01:15:57,382 --> 01:16:01,887
Every round of industrial competition
is a high-stakes gamble.

1428
01:16:01,887 --> 01:16:04,973
Success is never guaranteed.

1429
01:16:04,973 --> 01:16:08,894
For example, after establishing TSMC,

1430
01:16:08,894 --> 01:16:12,314
ITRI launched the Submicron Project,

1431
01:16:12,314 --> 01:16:15,025
hoping Taiwan could become
the world's fourth

1432
01:16:15,025 --> 01:16:19,112
to produce advanced DRAM
with self-developed tech.

1433
01:16:19,112 --> 01:16:22,032
But the project suffered a brutal setback.

1434
01:16:22,032 --> 01:16:25,660
Around 1990, Taiwan's PC boom,

1435
01:16:25,660 --> 01:16:27,170
led by Acer and MiTAC, had begun.

1436
01:16:27,170 --> 01:16:29,915
Suddenly we found ourselves
missing two critical components:

1437
01:16:29,915 --> 01:16:32,667
CPU and memory.

1438
01:16:32,667 --> 01:16:34,461
Pressure mounted on ITRI

1439
01:16:34,461 --> 01:16:36,922
to develop CPU

1440
01:16:36,922 --> 01:16:38,423
as well as memory.

1441
01:16:39,090 --> 01:16:41,551
ICs are now the key
rising industry in Taiwan

1442
01:16:41,551 --> 01:16:44,012
and the crucial parts with
the widest application.

1443
01:16:44,012 --> 01:16:45,680
The Submicron Lab,

1444
01:16:45,680 --> 01:16:49,392
co-funded by 13 companies including TSMC,

1445
01:16:49,392 --> 01:16:52,938
was renamed
Vanguard International Semiconductor (VIS).

1446
01:16:52,938 --> 01:16:55,089
Every seven years,

1447
01:16:55,089 --> 01:16:58,985
ITRI launched a new venture.

1448
01:16:58,985 --> 01:17:01,095
UMC was set up in 1980.

1449
01:17:01,095 --> 01:17:03,573
TSMC in 1987.

1450
01:17:03,573 --> 01:17:05,767
VIS was in 1994.

1451
01:17:05,767 --> 01:17:07,160
Again, 7 years.

1452
01:17:07,160 --> 01:17:08,736
Something new was

1453
01:17:08,736 --> 01:17:10,455
rolled out every 7 years.

1454
01:17:10,455 --> 01:17:12,173
VIS made huge profits

1455
01:17:12,173 --> 01:17:13,833
in its first two years,

1456
01:17:13,833 --> 01:17:16,711
our net margin hit 40%.

1457
01:17:16,711 --> 01:17:19,756
Even today, TSMC doesn't come close.

1458
01:17:19,756 --> 01:17:22,676
Their profit margin is only
around 20 to 30%.

1459
01:17:22,676 --> 01:17:30,141
But the good times didn't last.

1460
01:17:32,185 --> 01:17:34,104
At first, we were making big money.

1461
01:17:34,104 --> 01:17:36,898
Two years later, the global crash hit.

1462
01:17:38,024 --> 01:17:42,570
Even among Japan's "Big Ten" DRAM makers,

1463
01:17:42,570 --> 01:17:44,406
only one survived.

1464
01:17:44,406 --> 01:17:46,908
Taiwan had just stepped onto the stage,

1465
01:17:46,908 --> 01:17:50,662
and was knocked down with everyone else.

1466
01:17:50,662 --> 01:17:52,664
Then came the question:

1467
01:17:52,664 --> 01:17:54,374
Who was Vanguard's largest shareholder?

1468
01:17:54,374 --> 01:17:56,084
TSMC.

1469
01:17:58,503 --> 01:18:01,423
So, should we keep going or give up?

1470
01:18:01,423 --> 01:18:04,843
Mr. Chang met with us every day,

1471
01:18:04,843 --> 01:18:08,555
asking what we should do next.

1472
01:18:08,555 --> 01:18:10,498
He knew the answer.

1473
01:18:10,498 --> 01:18:12,767
This venture needed money.

1474
01:18:12,767 --> 01:18:15,520
As I said, it needed capital.

1475
01:18:15,520 --> 01:18:19,024
And we were up against Korea.

1476
01:18:19,024 --> 01:18:22,569
Their banks backed the industry

1477
01:18:22,569 --> 01:18:27,032
with debt ratios up to 400%.

1478
01:18:27,032 --> 01:18:29,200
In Taiwan, we were capped at 50%.

1479
01:18:29,200 --> 01:18:30,785
Actually this industry

1480
01:18:30,785 --> 01:18:32,553
requires one more thing:

1481
01:18:32,553 --> 01:18:34,372
Willpower.

1482
01:18:34,372 --> 01:18:36,857
When you're knocked down,

1483
01:18:36,857 --> 01:18:39,419
you get up and fight again.

1484
01:18:39,419 --> 01:18:41,664
Even if you're covered in blood and mud,

1485
01:18:41,664 --> 01:18:43,631
you must get up and keep fighting.

1486
01:18:43,631 --> 01:18:46,343
That's how you win in the end.

1487
01:18:46,343 --> 01:18:48,928
But if one punch

1488
01:18:48,928 --> 01:18:52,307
makes you quit, it's over.

1489
01:18:53,850 --> 01:18:56,561
Vanguard took a punch

1490
01:18:56,561 --> 01:18:59,481
and walked away.

1491
01:18:59,481 --> 01:19:02,275
Mr. Chang decided not to keep fighting.

1492
01:19:02,275 --> 01:19:05,570
VIS was essentially shut down

1493
01:19:05,570 --> 01:19:07,405
and shifted to contract manufacturing.

1494
01:19:10,033 --> 01:19:14,329
He announced the decision,

1495
01:19:14,329 --> 01:19:16,331
saying he'd cry with us,
heads in our hands.

1496
01:19:19,959 --> 01:19:23,088
Was it the right call?

1497
01:19:23,088 --> 01:19:28,718
Or should we have kept going?

1498
01:19:28,718 --> 01:19:34,140
But history cannot be undone, or replayed.

1499
01:19:49,614 --> 01:19:51,199
A tearful declaration

1500
01:19:51,199 --> 01:19:55,662
marked the end of Taiwan's
dream for DRAM self-reliance.

1501
01:19:55,662 --> 01:19:59,749
Yet it also signaled the dawn
of the foundry era.

1502
01:19:59,749 --> 01:20:03,420
But the wheel of technology
never slows for anyone,

1503
01:20:03,420 --> 01:20:05,630
a greater challenge was just ahead.

1504
01:20:09,300 --> 01:20:12,220
In 2007, the iPhone was born.

1505
01:20:12,220 --> 01:20:16,099
The world believed spring
had come for the digital age.

1506
01:20:16,099 --> 01:20:18,435
But the global financial crisis struck

1507
01:20:18,435 --> 01:20:20,311
like a sudden blizzard.

1508
01:20:21,020 --> 01:20:24,482
Morris Chang had retired in 2005,

1509
01:20:24,482 --> 01:20:26,818
but returned to face the headwinds.

1510
01:20:26,818 --> 01:20:28,736
Back as CEO, he once again took the helm

1511
01:20:28,736 --> 01:20:31,406
guiding one of Taiwan's most vital

1512
01:20:31,406 --> 01:20:34,451
tech companies through crisis.

1513
01:20:34,451 --> 01:20:37,454
Chang continued
to inspire investor confidence.

1514
01:20:37,871 --> 01:20:40,165
Facing the possibility of losses,

1515
01:20:40,165 --> 01:20:41,749
Chairman Chang's first move

1516
01:20:41,749 --> 01:20:43,751
wasn't cutting costs.

1517
01:20:43,751 --> 01:20:46,754
Chang doubled down on capital expenditures

1518
01:20:46,754 --> 01:20:50,383
because he saw the coming
boom in smartphones.

1519
01:20:50,383 --> 01:20:53,261
The year after, TSMC's capex

1520
01:20:53,261 --> 01:20:54,846
more than doubled.

1521
01:20:56,806 --> 01:20:59,944
Before 2009,

1522
01:20:59,944 --> 01:21:04,067
TSMC thrived on fab efficiency,

1523
01:21:04,067 --> 01:21:07,859
yield and cost control.

1524
01:21:07,859 --> 01:21:10,945
It became a profitable

1525
01:21:10,945 --> 01:21:14,741
and well-run company.

1526
01:21:14,741 --> 01:21:20,497
From 2010 to 2015, things changed.

1527
01:21:20,497 --> 01:21:22,923
Morris stockpiled cash

1528
01:21:22,923 --> 01:21:25,960
and slammed it into RandD.

1529
01:21:25,960 --> 01:21:29,797
Investing US$2 billion a year.

1530
01:21:29,797 --> 01:21:31,799
In a short time, the RandD team grew

1531
01:21:31,799 --> 01:21:35,470
from 700 to 3,000 people.

1532
01:21:36,638 --> 01:21:38,348
Apple is about to launch its iPhone 6,

1533
01:21:38,348 --> 01:21:41,142
powered by TSMC's new 20nm chip.

1534
01:21:41,142 --> 01:21:42,435
All eyes are on the market.

1535
01:21:42,435 --> 01:21:45,438
TSMC beat Samsung for Apple's order.

1536
01:21:45,438 --> 01:21:50,235
Among the world's top three chipmakers,

1537
01:21:50,235 --> 01:21:53,196
two were also Apple's competitors:

1538
01:21:53,196 --> 01:21:55,448
Samsung and Intel.

1539
01:21:55,448 --> 01:21:56,991
They made chips and

1540
01:21:56,991 --> 01:21:58,618
built their own brands,

1541
01:21:58,618 --> 01:22:00,828
eventually becoming a threat to Apple.

1542
01:22:00,828 --> 01:22:02,747
Apple and Samsung became direct rivals,

1543
01:22:02,747 --> 01:22:06,292
so Apple could no longer rely on Samsung.

1544
01:22:06,292 --> 01:22:08,253
And TSMC was ready.

1545
01:22:08,253 --> 01:22:10,255
That's when things took off.

1546
01:22:10,255 --> 01:22:11,672
From 2015 onwards,

1547
01:22:11,672 --> 01:22:15,134
heavyweight companies like Apple

1548
01:22:15,134 --> 01:22:19,681
became TSMC's clients.

1549
01:22:19,681 --> 01:22:22,183
That marked TSMC's final leap forward.

1550
01:22:22,183 --> 01:22:26,563
In truth, Apple was pulling us ahead.

1551
01:22:26,563 --> 01:22:32,092
We just sprinted at full speed

1552
01:22:32,092 --> 01:22:35,280
to keep up their pace.

1553
01:22:35,280 --> 01:22:39,784
That phase wasn't about TSMC's own ideas.

1554
01:22:39,784 --> 01:22:42,036
The client was simply too big.

1555
01:22:42,036 --> 01:22:44,071
All we could do was give it our all

1556
01:22:44,071 --> 01:22:45,832
and follow their lead.

1557
01:22:45,832 --> 01:22:50,795
As long as they won,

1558
01:22:50,795 --> 01:22:53,464
we won as well.

1559
01:22:56,718 --> 01:22:58,678
There's a consortium in
the U.S. called SEMATECH.

1560
01:22:58,678 --> 01:23:01,556
At dinner one time

1561
01:23:01,556 --> 01:23:02,599
someone asked,

1562
01:23:02,599 --> 01:23:05,393
"It takes us two years
to build a new generation node.

1563
01:23:05,393 --> 01:23:08,187
Why can TSMC do it in
a year or a year and a half?"

1564
01:23:08,187 --> 01:23:10,106
I said, "Let me tell you why.

1565
01:23:10,106 --> 01:23:12,358
We have three shifts of RandD engineers.

1566
01:23:12,358 --> 01:23:15,361
The graveyard shift,
the night shift and the day shift.

1567
01:23:15,361 --> 01:23:18,156
Our machines run 24/7.

1568
01:23:18,156 --> 01:23:20,325
Yours run only eight hours a day.

1569
01:23:20,325 --> 01:23:22,910
That makes us three times faster.

1570
01:23:22,910 --> 01:23:25,705
Even if you're twice as smart,
we still beat you."

1571
01:23:26,497 --> 01:23:29,417
In the U.S.,
if a machine breaks down at midnight,

1572
01:23:29,417 --> 01:23:31,377
it sits until the next morning.

1573
01:23:31,377 --> 01:23:32,720
At 8 a.m.,

1574
01:23:32,720 --> 01:23:35,089
the maintenance engineers arrive at work.

1575
01:23:35,089 --> 01:23:37,958
They grab a coffee and chat

1576
01:23:37,958 --> 01:23:39,677
before starting to fix it.

1577
01:23:39,677 --> 01:23:41,679
It'll probably be noon when they're done.

1578
01:23:41,679 --> 01:23:42,963
At TSMC,

1579
01:23:42,963 --> 01:23:45,224
if a machine breaks down at midnight,

1580
01:23:45,224 --> 01:23:46,634
we immediately call the engineers.

1581
01:23:46,634 --> 01:23:48,227
They come in right away.

1582
01:23:48,227 --> 01:23:49,771
And it's fixed by 1 or 2 a.m.

1583
01:23:49,979 --> 01:23:59,280
TSMC's revenue over the years (in NT$100M)

1584
01:23:59,280 --> 01:24:01,824
TSMC is a deeply focused company.

1585
01:24:01,824 --> 01:24:04,869
We never set out to do everything,

1586
01:24:04,869 --> 01:24:07,497
and we know we're not great at everything.

1587
01:24:07,497 --> 01:24:10,792
But we strive to do this one thing

1588
01:24:10,792 --> 01:24:12,251
and do it to perfection.

1589
01:24:12,251 --> 01:24:14,295
As the company grew,

1590
01:24:14,295 --> 01:24:16,547
so did the temptations.

1591
01:24:16,547 --> 01:24:18,091
With more money came more questions:

1592
01:24:18,091 --> 01:24:20,968
"Should we diversify?

1593
01:24:20,968 --> 01:24:22,720
Should we invest here or there?"

1594
01:24:22,720 --> 01:24:25,264
But we've always been clear
those are not the things we do.

1595
01:24:25,264 --> 01:24:27,408
We believe the foundry

1596
01:24:27,408 --> 01:24:29,435
is a beautiful business model.

1597
01:24:29,435 --> 01:24:30,945
No matter how the economy shifts

1598
01:24:30,945 --> 01:24:32,188
or society evolves,

1599
01:24:32,188 --> 01:24:35,183
the world will always need chips.

1600
01:24:35,183 --> 01:24:37,143
If we can be the best at this one thing,

1601
01:24:37,143 --> 01:24:39,404
we'll always have our place.

1602
01:24:55,002 --> 01:24:56,754
After 25 years,

1603
01:24:56,754 --> 01:25:00,425
the Speaker of the U.S. House

1604
01:25:00,425 --> 01:25:02,969
finally visits Taiwan again.

1605
01:25:02,969 --> 01:25:05,096
As Taiwanese,

1606
01:25:05,096 --> 01:25:07,890
let's give a warm round
of applause to welcome...

1607
01:25:07,890 --> 01:25:10,810
I think that, as a matter of
national strategic priority,

1608
01:25:10,810 --> 01:25:13,771
Taiwan becomes more important
to the U.S. for that reason.

1609
01:25:13,771 --> 01:25:16,899
The reliance on Taiwan is quite serious.

1610
01:25:16,899 --> 01:25:20,945
The likelihood is that
that would produce an economic crisis

1611
01:25:20,945 --> 01:25:24,157
that could affect, quite literally,
the entire world.

1612
01:25:24,157 --> 01:25:26,951
Geopolitics is at once opportunity,
challenge and destiny.

1613
01:25:26,951 --> 01:25:29,245
The U.S.-China trade war in recent years

1614
01:25:29,245 --> 01:25:32,790
at its core, is a technology war,

1615
01:25:32,790 --> 01:25:37,712
and behind that,
a race in military technology.

1616
01:25:38,546 --> 01:25:41,424
I'd like to share that in recent years,

1617
01:25:41,424 --> 01:25:44,761
I've received many guests from abroad.

1618
01:25:44,761 --> 01:25:46,253
Though they come from

1619
01:25:46,253 --> 01:25:48,097
different countries and different fields,

1620
01:25:48,097 --> 01:25:51,684
they are all very interested in one thing

1621
01:25:51,684 --> 01:25:55,146
Taiwan's semiconductor industry.

1622
01:25:55,146 --> 01:25:57,396
This is the only Taiwanese manufacturer

1623
01:25:57,396 --> 01:25:59,025
founded after World War II

1624
01:25:59,025 --> 01:26:01,434
capable of competing among

1625
01:26:01,434 --> 01:26:04,655
the world's core economies.

1626
01:26:04,655 --> 01:26:06,340
This gave Taiwan a seat

1627
01:26:06,340 --> 01:26:07,950
at the Global North's table.

1628
01:26:07,950 --> 01:26:09,776
It means everything for

1629
01:26:09,776 --> 01:26:11,662
Taiwan's economic growth

1630
01:26:11,662 --> 01:26:14,207
and international standing.

1631
01:26:18,628 --> 01:26:21,380
Beijing's live-fire drills near Taiwan

1632
01:26:21,380 --> 01:26:23,883
are a provocative act

1633
01:26:23,883 --> 01:26:27,512
that challenges global norms

1634
01:26:27,512 --> 01:26:29,388
and destabilizes the Taiwan Strait.

1635
01:26:30,306 --> 01:26:35,728
In 2024, over 5,000 PLA sorties
circled Taiwan.

1636
01:26:35,728 --> 01:26:38,648
Geopolitics is like a double-edged sword,

1637
01:26:38,648 --> 01:26:41,818
raising the stakes for both
Taiwan's global standing

1638
01:26:41,818 --> 01:26:43,611
and its chip industry.

1639
01:26:43,611 --> 01:26:45,079
We're going to become more reliant

1640
01:26:45,079 --> 01:26:47,532
on semiconductors over the next decade.

1641
01:26:47,532 --> 01:26:48,715
And when you look at the chips

1642
01:26:48,715 --> 01:26:51,369
that are training AI systems,

1643
01:26:51,369 --> 01:26:52,686
there are just a couple of companies

1644
01:26:52,686 --> 01:26:55,081
that design chips for training AI systems.

1645
01:26:55,081 --> 01:26:56,023
And just one company that

1646
01:26:56,023 --> 01:26:57,542
produces the most important of them.

1647
01:26:57,542 --> 01:26:58,709
That is TSMC.

1648
01:26:58,709 --> 01:26:59,927
That's where there's worries,

1649
01:26:59,927 --> 01:27:01,587
that Taiwan has been so successful,

1650
01:27:01,587 --> 01:27:04,090
concentration has grown at such a degree,

1651
01:27:04,090 --> 01:27:05,466
that the concern is,

1652
01:27:05,466 --> 01:27:07,593
in case something bad happens,

1653
01:27:07,593 --> 01:27:09,203
does the entire world have

1654
01:27:09,203 --> 01:27:11,931
the ability to react to that?

1655
01:27:11,931 --> 01:27:15,059
Once that awareness sets in,

1656
01:27:15,059 --> 01:27:17,270
everything we see now is preparation.

1657
01:27:17,270 --> 01:27:20,106
If something happens to Taiwan,

1658
01:27:20,106 --> 01:27:21,750
the economic fallout

1659
01:27:21,750 --> 01:27:23,568
for the U.S. and others

1660
01:27:23,568 --> 01:27:27,697
could be devastating.

1661
01:27:27,697 --> 01:27:30,723
Every country is trying

1662
01:27:30,723 --> 01:27:34,120
to reshape a supply chain

1663
01:27:34,120 --> 01:27:36,079
that's secure and shielded

1664
01:27:36,079 --> 01:27:37,790
from geopolitical risk.

1665
01:27:37,790 --> 01:27:39,667
In this global climate,

1666
01:27:39,667 --> 01:27:41,711
is it a challenge for Taiwan?

1667
01:27:41,711 --> 01:27:44,463
Is it a challenge for TSMC?  Absolutely.

1668
01:27:54,432 --> 01:27:58,060
But when there's unrest in the world

1669
01:27:58,060 --> 01:28:02,690
as it is today,

1670
01:28:02,690 --> 01:28:06,944
TSMC becomes

1671
01:28:06,944 --> 01:28:11,403
a key battleground

1672
01:28:11,403 --> 01:28:15,070
for geopolitical strategists.

1673
01:28:16,662 --> 01:28:18,671
When you become the key battleground

1674
01:28:18,671 --> 01:28:20,749
in a global power struggle,

1675
01:28:20,749 --> 01:28:24,712
it puts you in a difficult position.

1676
01:28:24,712 --> 01:28:26,314
Our success doesn't lie

1677
01:28:26,314 --> 01:28:27,757
in threatening others.

1678
01:28:27,757 --> 01:28:31,802
We serve our clients' interests

1679
01:28:31,802 --> 01:28:33,554
through partnership,

1680
01:28:33,554 --> 01:28:36,557
through shared risks.

1681
01:28:36,557 --> 01:28:38,559
That's what truly matters,

1682
01:28:38,559 --> 01:28:41,187
and we must keep reminding
the world of that.

1683
01:28:41,729 --> 01:28:43,463
I think the U.S. government has,

1684
01:28:43,463 --> 01:28:45,024
in the last couple of decades,

1685
01:28:45,024 --> 01:28:46,466
not been very focused on

1686
01:28:46,466 --> 01:28:47,860
where chips are manufactured.

1687
01:28:47,860 --> 01:28:50,404
And that's really what's changed.

1688
01:28:50,404 --> 01:28:51,805
For Taiwan, Taiwan finds itself

1689
01:28:51,805 --> 01:28:55,576
impacted dramatically by that relationship.

1690
01:28:55,576 --> 01:28:57,077
Both in terms of restrictions on

1691
01:28:57,077 --> 01:28:59,664
what Taiwanese companies are able to sell,

1692
01:28:59,664 --> 01:29:02,015
but also in terms of the risks

1693
01:29:02,015 --> 01:29:04,492
that increased tensions could

1694
01:29:04,492 --> 01:29:06,954
disrupt Taiwan's ability

1695
01:29:06,954 --> 01:29:09,006
to export semiconductors.

1696
01:29:09,006 --> 01:29:12,176
Viewed through a political lens,

1697
01:29:12,176 --> 01:29:14,011
the spotlight has shifted.

1698
01:29:14,011 --> 01:29:16,889
It's no longer just Taiwan vs. China

1699
01:29:16,889 --> 01:29:19,475
but Taiwan vs. Washington.

1700
01:29:19,475 --> 01:29:22,061
America's struggle
to rebuild its chip industry

1701
01:29:22,061 --> 01:29:25,147
isn't just a matter of will,

1702
01:29:25,147 --> 01:29:26,774
but of talent and cost.

1703
01:29:26,774 --> 01:29:29,360
In the U.S., fabs are expensive to build,

1704
01:29:29,360 --> 01:29:31,195
and engineers are costly to hire.

1705
01:29:31,195 --> 01:29:33,990
In Taiwan, labor is more affordable,

1706
01:29:33,990 --> 01:29:36,784
and within 200 kilometers
you can find an entire supply chain.

1707
01:29:36,784 --> 01:29:39,662
That kind of ecosystem is almost impossible
to replicate in the U.S.

1708
01:29:39,662 --> 01:29:41,956
That's how the Silicon Shield
was built in Taiwan.

1709
01:29:45,459 --> 01:29:50,589
To this day,
TSMC never speaks of the Silicon Shield.

1710
01:29:50,589 --> 01:29:52,675
But everyone in Taiwan knows that

1711
01:29:52,675 --> 01:29:56,929
to keep the island safe,
to stay seen by the world,

1712
01:29:56,929 --> 01:29:59,473
the entire nation must rally

1713
01:29:59,473 --> 01:30:02,601
to keep TSMC's cutting-edge tech

1714
01:30:02,601 --> 01:30:04,437
rooted on this island.

1715
01:30:06,480 --> 01:30:08,858
Some have expressed concerns,

1716
01:30:08,858 --> 01:30:10,884
wondering if TSMC

1717
01:30:10,884 --> 01:30:12,987
has shifted its focus abroad,

1718
01:30:12,987 --> 01:30:15,030
and if all the momentum

1719
01:30:15,030 --> 01:30:17,073
we built in Taiwan has started

1720
01:30:17,073 --> 01:30:19,243
to slow or move elsewhere.

1721
01:30:19,243 --> 01:30:24,165
We just want to say this loud and clear:

1722
01:30:24,165 --> 01:30:28,836
TSMC is here to stay.

1723
01:30:35,092 --> 01:30:38,179
This 2-nanometer TSMC site

1724
01:30:38,179 --> 01:30:40,514
sits on 120 hectares

1725
01:30:40,514 --> 01:30:44,518
acquired by Hsinchu Science Park for TSMC.

1726
01:30:45,061 --> 01:30:47,146
It once held green hills

1727
01:30:47,146 --> 01:30:50,649
and the century-old Hakka village of Daqi.

1728
01:30:52,109 --> 01:30:56,322
Daqi Village is a Hakka settlement

1729
01:30:56,322 --> 01:30:59,070
tracing back to

1730
01:30:59,070 --> 01:31:01,952
the Qing empire's Xianfeng era.

1731
01:31:01,952 --> 01:31:03,704
This temple is part of the village.

1732
01:31:03,704 --> 01:31:05,505
Hakka people have

1733
01:31:05,505 --> 01:31:07,291
lived here for generations,

1734
01:31:07,291 --> 01:31:11,962
turning barren land into fertile soil.

1735
01:31:11,962 --> 01:31:17,343
The toil spanned 100 to 200 years.

1736
01:31:20,888 --> 01:31:24,558
The plant must take
local sentiments into account.

1737
01:31:24,558 --> 01:31:29,647
TSMC sent senior managers
to Baosheng Temple in Daqi Village.

1738
01:31:29,647 --> 01:31:32,191
After four rounds of divination,

1739
01:31:32,191 --> 01:31:35,694
they finally got the god's permission
to relocate the temple.

1740
01:31:35,694 --> 01:31:37,071
The media reported that

1741
01:31:37,071 --> 01:31:41,117
even the gods had to make way
for TSMC's expansion.

1742
01:31:41,117 --> 01:31:44,620
Look, someone just left their sofa behind.

1743
01:31:44,620 --> 01:31:46,413
They tore the houses apart,

1744
01:31:46,413 --> 01:31:48,040
so they could get the money.

1745
01:31:48,833 --> 01:31:50,083
These are empty.

1746
01:31:50,083 --> 01:31:52,503
They took out the doors and windows.

1747
01:31:55,256 --> 01:31:56,757
While the country develops,

1748
01:31:56,757 --> 01:31:58,884
could there be a third option for us?

1749
01:31:58,884 --> 01:32:00,594
When designing the science park,

1750
01:32:00,594 --> 01:32:03,264
could we choose to include

1751
01:32:03,264 --> 01:32:07,309
people, land, environment,

1752
01:32:07,309 --> 01:32:10,229
culture and history at the same time?

1753
01:32:10,229 --> 01:32:15,025
Is it possible to preserve some memories?

1754
01:32:17,987 --> 01:32:20,948
Economic development and cultural values

1755
01:32:20,948 --> 01:32:23,617
have always been in a tug-of-war.

1756
01:32:24,618 --> 01:32:29,623
After ChatGPT kicked off
the global AI wave in 2023,

1757
01:32:29,623 --> 01:32:34,044
the importance of TSMC
became the focus of superpowers.

1758
01:32:34,461 --> 01:32:37,840
When the distribution of talent
and resources clashes

1759
01:32:37,840 --> 01:32:40,176
with national security,

1760
01:32:40,176 --> 01:32:42,178
how should we choose?

1761
01:32:43,762 --> 01:32:45,598
TSMC now ranks among the world's

1762
01:32:45,598 --> 01:32:48,475
ten most valuable companies (as of 2024).

1763
01:32:48,475 --> 01:32:51,729
Seven out of these ten are AI-driven.

1764
01:32:51,729 --> 01:32:52,879
In the age of AI,

1765
01:32:52,879 --> 01:32:56,317
a few companies shape humanity's course.

1766
01:32:56,317 --> 01:32:57,985
How fortunate is it for Taiwan.

1767
01:32:57,985 --> 01:33:00,863
But here lies a paradox.

1768
01:33:01,989 --> 01:33:04,617
TSMC's market cap

1769
01:33:04,617 --> 01:33:08,329
has surpassed Taiwan's annual GDP.

1770
01:33:08,329 --> 01:33:09,996
When a nation ties its fate

1771
01:33:09,996 --> 01:33:11,582
to one company, one industry,

1772
01:33:11,582 --> 01:33:13,834
the writing is already on the wall.

1773
01:33:19,215 --> 01:33:21,342
For the next 20 to 30 years,

1774
01:33:21,342 --> 01:33:24,678
based on industry changes in the world,

1775
01:33:24,678 --> 01:33:27,223
especially since the rise of AI,

1776
01:33:27,223 --> 01:33:30,059
developed countries,
including the OECD, are all pondering over

1777
01:33:30,059 --> 01:33:33,103
the talent we'll see in the future.

1778
01:33:33,103 --> 01:33:35,856
The semiconductor bigwigs
keep saying we need talent.

1779
01:33:35,856 --> 01:33:37,733
But the problem is Taiwan's development

1780
01:33:37,733 --> 01:33:39,435
needs talent across all industries.

1781
01:33:39,435 --> 01:33:41,211
Declining birth rates mean the talent

1782
01:33:41,211 --> 01:33:43,239
shortage in all walks of life is dire.

1783
01:33:43,239 --> 01:33:44,949
Taiwan needs to think more carefully about

1784
01:33:44,949 --> 01:33:46,909
what our talent policy should be like.

1785
01:33:50,913 --> 01:33:53,499
Taiwan is small and densely populated.

1786
01:33:53,499 --> 01:33:56,241
That puts huge pressure

1787
01:33:56,241 --> 01:33:59,088
on land and energy.

1788
01:33:59,088 --> 01:34:02,132
As an export-driven economy,

1789
01:34:02,132 --> 01:34:04,176
we must produce.

1790
01:34:04,176 --> 01:34:05,803
And production needs power.

1791
01:34:05,803 --> 01:34:08,589
In 2020, TSMC used

1792
01:34:08,589 --> 01:34:10,766
15.6 billion kWh of electricity.

1793
01:34:10,766 --> 01:34:13,852
That's the same as the entire Taipei City.

1794
01:34:13,852 --> 01:34:17,982
At this pace,

1795
01:34:17,982 --> 01:34:20,200
it's projected to reach

1796
01:34:20,200 --> 01:34:25,155
45 billion kWh by 2028.

1797
01:34:25,155 --> 01:34:27,274
The amount of electricity TSMC consumes

1798
01:34:27,274 --> 01:34:29,075
will be around 80% of

1799
01:34:29,075 --> 01:34:30,995
Taiwan's residential usage.

1800
01:34:32,121 --> 01:34:35,249
As Taiwan faces a mounting power crunch,

1801
01:34:35,249 --> 01:34:38,711
besides the overall electricity supply,

1802
01:34:38,711 --> 01:34:42,464
demands for a green transition
are also accelerating.

1803
01:34:42,464 --> 01:34:44,466
The RE100 initiative

1804
01:34:44,466 --> 01:34:45,592
urges companies

1805
01:34:45,592 --> 01:34:50,180
to run on 100% renewable energy by 2050.

1806
01:34:50,180 --> 01:34:52,516
To stay competitive globally,

1807
01:34:52,516 --> 01:34:55,394
Taiwanese firms are signing on.

1808
01:34:55,394 --> 01:35:00,566
But green energy supply and
distribution pose a new hurdle.

1809
01:35:00,566 --> 01:35:02,776
In the past, you needed land,

1810
01:35:02,776 --> 01:35:06,030
electricity, water and labor

1811
01:35:06,030 --> 01:35:07,781
to produce goods.

1812
01:35:07,781 --> 01:35:10,826
In the future, without green energy,

1813
01:35:10,826 --> 01:35:14,079
reclaimed water, or zero-carbon solutions,

1814
01:35:14,079 --> 01:35:17,207
companies may be forced to relocate.

1815
01:35:17,207 --> 01:35:18,825
When Apple commits to

1816
01:35:18,825 --> 01:35:20,377
a zero-carbon iPhone,

1817
01:35:20,377 --> 01:35:23,630
its entire supply chain must follow.

1818
01:35:23,630 --> 01:35:27,134
If not today, it'll happen soon.

1819
01:35:27,968 --> 01:35:31,513
I'm both hopeful and worried.

1820
01:35:31,513 --> 01:35:37,102
The entire island can only give so much.

1821
01:35:37,102 --> 01:35:38,845
Our water, power and talent

1822
01:35:38,845 --> 01:35:40,773
are all finite.

1823
01:35:40,773 --> 01:35:43,859
If we wish to grow beyond it,

1824
01:35:43,859 --> 01:35:47,071
we must lead our people

1825
01:35:47,071 --> 01:35:53,494
into the wider world.

1826
01:35:55,496 --> 01:35:58,540
To lead your people to explore the world,

1827
01:35:58,540 --> 01:36:01,502
you must pair ambition with resilience

1828
01:36:01,502 --> 01:36:05,130
to face the harsh realities
of the global stage.

1829
01:36:05,130 --> 01:36:07,674
During the making of this documentary,

1830
01:36:07,674 --> 01:36:12,805
geopolitical shifts came so fast
they nearly threw us off balance.

1831
01:36:12,805 --> 01:36:14,723
But they also forced us to face

1832
01:36:14,723 --> 01:36:17,267
the reality of living in Taiwan.

1833
01:36:17,267 --> 01:36:20,062
It's as if Taiwan's hope for safety

1834
01:36:20,062 --> 01:36:22,689
and the superpowers' idea of security

1835
01:36:22,689 --> 01:36:25,234
clash in the ruthless arena.

1836
01:36:25,234 --> 01:36:28,943
Chips and TSMC have
become the quiet pieces

1837
01:36:28,943 --> 01:36:30,823
in a high-stakes game.

1838
01:36:37,079 --> 01:36:42,000
I arrived alone at TSMC's future
Dresden site in Germany,

1839
01:36:42,000 --> 01:36:45,546
surrounded by desolation and silence.

1840
01:36:45,546 --> 01:36:47,840
Walking, observing.

1841
01:36:48,424 --> 01:36:51,802
Just then, a news alert lit up my phone.

1842
01:36:51,802 --> 01:36:54,513
Global chip protectionism rising.

1843
01:36:54,513 --> 01:36:57,349
Tensions around Taiwan escalating.

1844
01:36:58,267 --> 01:37:01,395
People outside this industry don't get it.

1845
01:37:01,395 --> 01:37:04,030
We're constantly up against

1846
01:37:04,030 --> 01:37:07,860
global competition.

1847
01:37:07,860 --> 01:37:12,030
Few companies in Taiwan are like that.

1848
01:37:13,157 --> 01:37:15,509
It's hard to tell people that,

1849
01:37:15,509 --> 01:37:16,952
to love Taiwan,

1850
01:37:16,952 --> 01:37:19,830
you have to compete on a global stage.

1851
01:37:19,830 --> 01:37:23,834
That's how you truly make Taiwan stronger.

1852
01:37:38,390 --> 01:37:40,225
This is a tremendous move

1853
01:37:40,225 --> 01:37:42,895
by the most powerful company in the world.

1854
01:37:42,895 --> 01:37:45,063
It's a matter of economic security.

1855
01:37:45,063 --> 01:37:47,733
It's also a matter of
national security for us.

1856
01:37:57,075 --> 01:37:58,827
Lately,

1857
01:37:58,827 --> 01:38:00,304
life has been somewhat

1858
01:38:00,304 --> 01:38:01,580
tense for certain.

1859
01:38:01,580 --> 01:38:02,989
Meeting two presidents

1860
01:38:02,989 --> 01:38:04,500
in such a short time,

1861
01:38:04,500 --> 01:38:06,877
meeting with friends in the media

1862
01:38:06,877 --> 01:38:08,629
and answering questions.

1863
01:38:10,756 --> 01:38:13,550
President Lai told me just yesterday:

1864
01:38:13,550 --> 01:38:15,670
"Be sure to speak openly

1865
01:38:15,670 --> 01:38:17,638
with our friends in the press

1866
01:38:17,638 --> 01:38:21,183
and explain why we're going to the U.S.,

1867
01:38:21,183 --> 01:38:22,642
and why we've committed

1868
01:38:22,642 --> 01:38:24,770
to this US$100 billion investment."

1869
01:38:41,036 --> 01:38:45,415
Over the past five years,

1870
01:38:45,415 --> 01:38:48,293
we were once seen as

1871
01:38:49,294 --> 01:38:53,757
a key battleground.

1872
01:38:53,757 --> 01:38:56,301
But now, we have truly become

1873
01:38:56,301 --> 01:38:58,845
the bona fide battleground.

1874
01:39:00,556 --> 01:39:02,615
Especially when it comes to

1875
01:39:02,615 --> 01:39:05,686
the most advanced semiconductors.

1876
01:39:06,895 --> 01:39:14,611
Globalization is dead.

1877
01:39:14,611 --> 01:39:19,700
Free trade is also dead.

1878
01:39:21,743 --> 01:39:24,580
In this new world,

1879
01:39:27,207 --> 01:39:29,835
our challenge is clear

1880
01:39:29,835 --> 01:39:35,090
we must keep growing.

1881
01:39:39,136 --> 01:39:47,019
I believe we will rise to this challenge.

1882
01:39:49,021 --> 01:39:51,356
We will succeed.

1883
01:40:06,830 --> 01:40:11,251
Accept the challenge.
Keep pushing forward.

1884
01:40:11,251 --> 01:40:14,630
Perhaps it's not just TSMC being tested.

1885
01:40:14,630 --> 01:40:17,633
It's another gamble on Taiwan's survival.

1886
01:40:18,342 --> 01:40:22,971
We must succeed. Failure is not an option.

1887
01:40:49,331 --> 01:40:53,835
Half a century ago,
in those stormy days of uncertainty

1888
01:40:53,835 --> 01:40:58,090
a group of young engineers
planted the seeds of Taiwan's tech.

1889
01:40:58,090 --> 01:41:00,759
What sprouted wasn't just chips,

1890
01:41:00,759 --> 01:41:02,969
but also a quiet resolve,

1891
01:41:02,969 --> 01:41:06,556
a promise to protect the place
they called home.

1892
01:41:06,556 --> 01:41:08,558
Once passionate youths,

1893
01:41:08,558 --> 01:41:11,937
they've grown into wise elders
with silver hair.

1894
01:41:11,937 --> 01:41:14,147
Yet the wine circle that Hu started

1895
01:41:14,147 --> 01:41:16,066
still lives on.