Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) founder Morris Chang (張忠謀) yesterday said that a sustainable supply of high-quality and dedicated engineers, and a low turnover rate are contributing factors to Taiwan’s leadership in the global chipmaking industry.
Chang delivered a speech on Taiwan’s competitive advantages in the chip sector at the 70th anniversary of the International Association of Judges (IAJ) in Taipei.
Chang founded the world’s largest contract chipmaker, or foundry, in 1987. The chipmaker now offers research and development, wafer fabrication and advanced packaging, which are capital and technology-intensive businesses, he said.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
Chips made by TSMC can be found in national defense, smartphones and vehicles, he said.
In developed countries, about 2.5 billion people use Taiwan-made chips for the devices they use in their daily lives, he added.
As chip manufacturing is a crucial industry and the only crucial industry for Taiwan to be a leader, it needs to defend its leadership position, Chang said.
Photo: CNA
With a highly educated population, Taiwan has plenty of high-quality and dedicated engineers, Chang said.
Those young people are willing to work in the tough chip manufacturing environment, wearing heavy outfits that look like space suits, he added.
TSMC has an employee turnover rate of about 4 to 5 percent annually, which is much lower than the 15 to 20 percent at US companies during the 1970s and the 1980s, he said, adding that a high turnover was “certainly a disaster problem” as it takes years to train technicians and engineers, he said.
The US used to have the most advanced wafer fabrication technology in the world, but things have changed, he said.
TSMC now offers the world’s most advanced foundry technology, outpacing Intel Corp.
Taiwan’s foundry-centric semiconductor fabrication supply chain is also one advantage, with major equipment suppliers ASML Holding NV and Applied Materials Inc setting up service centers in Taiwan, he said.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday approved an additional US$4.5 billion (US$140.7 million) funding for TSMC’s fab construction in Arizona.
The new funding would help enhance TSMC’s partnership with customers, and would help grow Taiwan’s semiconductor industry and deepen its connections with supply chains, it said.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) also gave a speech at the IAJ event, saying the government is striving to reach the highest international standards in judicial independence and human rights protection.
“We cannot take judicial independence for granted. It must be continuously upheld through individual commitments and institutional protections in Taiwan,” Tsai said.
The last time the IAJ held its annual meeting in Taiwan, in 1999, it adopted the Universal Charter of the Judge — a “landmark document” that has helped enshrine the value of judicial independence, Tsai said.
Serving as a blueprint for protecting judicial independence, the charter states that judges should “ensure the rights of everyone to a fair trial” and “exercise judicial powers free from social, economic and political pressure,” she said.
The nation’s commitment to democracy “drives our efforts to build a judicial system that is transparent, accountable and responsive to the people it serves,” she said.
The citizen judge system, where professional judges are joined by members of the public in trials, was launched this year as an effort to ensure greater fairness and trust in the judicial system, she added.
Judicial Yuan President Hsu Tzong-li (許宗力) said in his speech that as judicial departments are facing various challenges and difficulties in a rapidly changing global environment, “it is indispensable that judges around the world strengthen their cooperation and exchanges” to safeguard freedom, judicial independence and human rights.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
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