TSMC founder Morris Chang has released the second half of his memoirs, the writing of which he described as "not fun." Leading businesspeople and politicians attended the launch, including former President Tsai Ing-wen.
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00:00Retired but not unproductive, at age 93, tech giant Morris Chang may no longer be leading
00:09Taiwan's largest chip company, but he's just released the second part of his autobiography,
00:14a 600-page chronicle of his distinguished career.
00:18And he says writing it wasn't easy.
00:30Chang is the founder of TSMC, which some have called the most important company in the world.
00:44It manufactures around 90% of the world's most advanced microchips, tiny pieces of silicon
00:48with electronic circuits that power everything from iPhones to cars to fighter jets.
00:54The company's chip production has made Taiwan central to the global economy and fueled fears
00:59that if China's threats to invade the country become a reality, advanced chip manufacturing
01:03would grind to a halt.
01:05It's been 25 years since Chang published the first half of his autobiography, which covers
01:09his childhood and early life.
01:12He has said he wanted to retire from TSMC before starting the second half, which he
01:16took years to finish.
01:17It's a rare look through his eyes into how the company was born.
01:22In the book, Chang recounts moving to Taiwan in 1985 after working in the U.S. for some
01:2730 years, recruited to head a government-funded research organization here.
01:32Before this, he'd only visited Taiwan a few times, but in the book calls the move
01:37a rendezvous with destiny because it led him to found TSMC in 1987.
01:42Chang gives previously unknown details, like that he once asked NVIDIA founder Jensen Huang
01:47to be the company's CEO, which Huang turned down.
01:51Chang also writes about his time as Taiwan's representative to the Asia-Pacific Economic
01:55Cooperation, or APEC, a role he served multiple times.
01:59At his book launch, some of Taiwan's leading businesspeople and politicians were in attendance,
02:04including former President Tsai Ing-wen, a testament to Chang's significance to the country.
02:26Tsai went on to say that thanks to Chang's work and TSMC, the world's current technological
02:33developments like AI cannot do without Taiwan's microchips, reason enough to celebrate Chang
02:38as the pride of Taiwan.
02:41Ryan Wu, Alec McDonald, and Keynes Cuaranta for Taiwan Plus.