Morris Chang

Morris and Sophia Chang (2010)

Morris Chang ( 張忠謀 , Zhāng Zhōngmóu ; born July 10, 1931 in Ningbo , Republic of China ) is a Sino -American engineer and manager in the semiconductor industry .

Life

Chang was the son of an administrator in Ningbo, went to Hong Kong in 1948 and to the United States in 1949, where he began studying at Harvard University . He studied mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a bachelor's degree in 1952 and a master's degree in 1953. He failed the required exam for a PhD position and then switched to the private sector at Sylvania Semiconductor in 1955 , and in 1958 to Texas Instruments (TI). At Texas Instruments he did his best to optimize transistor production and received his first management position. Because he wanted to move up the management hierarchy, he went on the advice of his superiors with a TI scholarship to Stanford University , where he received his doctorate in electrical engineering in 1964. He then moved back to Texas Instruments, where he gradually rose in the management hierarchy. Until 1983 he was at Texas Instruments, where he was instrumental in making the company one of the world's leading manufacturers of integrated circuits. He became vice president of global semiconductor business at TI. When TI entered the consumer electronics market (calculators, electronic clocks, etc.), Chang was also responsible for this. In retrospect, however, he later stated that this was not his world. In the semiconductor sector, only costs and technology were of importance, while in consumer electronics, on the other hand, also consumer taste, which is a "nebulous thing".

In 1983 he left TI to become President and CEO of General Instrument Corporation in New York City , but left the company after a year because it did not seem research-oriented enough to him. In 1984 he went to Taiwan to carry out industrial research on behalf of the government. He headed the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) and founded the semi-public Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) in 1987 . Companies there were able to produce integrated circuits without having to build expensive semiconductor factories themselves. This practice was also common earlier at TI, who had IBM produce. With this model, he is considered the father of the Taiwanese semiconductor industry. Until 2005 he remained chairman of TSMC. In 2009 he regained his senior position at TSMC. In 1994 he also became chairman of Vanguard International Semiconductor Corporation (a Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturer that works a lot with TSMC), which he remained until 2003.

He is a Fellow of the Computer History Museum and a member of the National Academy of Engineering . In 2000 he received the Robert N. Noyce Medal of the IEEE and in 2011 the IEEE Medal of Honor . He is a multiple honorary doctorates ( National Chiao Tung University , Tsinghua University , National Central University , Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute ).

Chang lives in Taiwan with his second wife, Sophie. His hobbies are classical music and bridge .

Web links and sources

• Biography at the Computer History Museum

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Tekla S. Perry: Morris Chang: Foundry Father. IEEE Spectrum, April 11, 2011, accessed August 5, 2019 .