Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday promoted Y.J. Mii (米玉傑) and Y.P. Chyn (秦永沛) as co-chief operating officers (COO) of the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, signaling the formation of a succession team.
The latest executive reshuffle comes after TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) in December last year announced that he is to retire this year. CEO C.C. Wei (魏哲家) has been recommended as his successor while continuing to serve in his current position.
Mii and Chyn, as well as the company’s human resources, finance, legal and corporate planning units, are to report directly to Wei, a company statement released after the board of directors approved the appointment during a special board meeting yesterday said.
Photo: Grace Hung, Taipei Times
All other organizations are to report to the co-COOs. The new personnel adjustments and organizational structure take effect today, it said.
TSMC did not disclose details about the new COOs’ job responsibilities.
The company appointed Cliff Hou (侯永清), senior vice president of Europe and Asia sales and corporate research, as Chyn’s deputy, while Kevin Zhang (張曉強), senior vice president of TSMC’s business development, is to be Mii’s deputy.
Chyn is currently responsible for the operation and management of all fabs in Taiwan and overseas. He also co-leads TSMC’s Overseas Operations Office, which is responsible for supporting the company’s global expansion and accelerating the organizational effectiveness of overseas operations, information on the company’s Web site says.
Mii is in charge of the company’s research and development (R&D). He joined TSMC in 1994 as a manager at Fab 3 and then joined the R&D unit in 2001. In 2011, Mii was appointed vice president of R&D and in November 2016, he was promoted to senior vice president.
This is not the first time TSMC has adopted a co-COO management model. In 2012, the chipmaker’s board appointed three executives — Chiang Shang-yi (蔣尚義), Liu and Wei — to share the responsibilities of COO.
The three took turns taking charge of the company’s three major divisions: R&D, operations or manufacturing and business development.
In 2018, Liu was tapped as company chairman after founding chairman Morris Chang (張忠謀) retired from his post. Wei became company CEO.
“C.C. has been on the job of CEO for six years. In fact, he is the most well-prepared CEO,” Chang said during his speech at a ceremony in which Wei was awarded an honorary doctorate by National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University in Hsinchu yesterday.
Wei is a CEO with comprehensive experiences in the company’s three key divisions, in addition to sales and marketing, Chang said.
He was appointed head of the chipmaker’s first business development division in charge of sales and marketing in 2019, Chang said.
Prior to that, Wei was responsible for managing the company’s 6-inch and 8-inch fabs. He also worked at the R&D divisions of TSMC and Texas Instruments, Chang said.
In his speech, Wei said he has learned a lot from Chang, including how to be a trusted partner of customers.
The first step in building trust with customers is not to compete with them, Wei said, adding that this is the “essence of running a foundry model.”
Moreover, it is something that TSMC’s major rivals, one from South Korea and the other from California, can never catch up with, he said.
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