Since then, it’s become clear that Morris Chang, founder and former CEO of TSMC, is keeping his word when it comes to competition from the Taiwanese chipmaker. In an interview with the Brookings Institution, the former CEO shared his views on the US government’s plans to produce more chips on its territory.
He emphasizes once again that the USA has a talent shortage in the field of semiconductor production. Manufacturing cost is also an important factor: TSMC incurs up to 50% more costs to make the same product at its US Oregon facility than at a Taiwanese facility. While current investments cost tens of billions of dollars, Chang believes this is not enough. He suspects that these factories will not be able to compete in the global market due to higher costs. That’s why he calls the plans “a very expensive, useless workout.”
Late last year, Chang said that Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger was “too old” to take Intel to the top.
Chang is talking about Intel, which is likely to build two $20 billion chip factories in Ohio. In addition to the blue camp chips, this capability is also targeting Intel Foundry Services customers competing with TSMC. The latter will also invest in an American manufacturing facility, although Chang stressed that this is at the government’s request.
The TSMC veteran expresses that he respects the current position of the USA in the industry. According to him, American chip designers are the best in the world, and most of them are based in this country. While there are a few designers operating in Taiwan, these produce less sophisticated products.
Source: Brookings Institution (YouTube)
Source: Hardware Info
