TAIPEI, Taiwan - As the opening speaker of the 1C60 MASTER FORUM at Semicon Taiwan, the content of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company founder Morris Chang’s speech was widely followed. It was an occasion in which international-tier semiconductor masters sat together and a media gathering for people to listen to a person who is currently at the top of the semiconductor market’s views on the next wave of semiconductor innovation. Furthermore, in the eyes of Morris Chang, innovation is not just technological, and business models are also important components of innovation.
From several decades of personal observation, Morris Chang pointed out what he believes are ten important innovations in the history of semiconductor development. These innovations include the invention of transistors and semiconductors, the proposal of Moore’s Law, and the birth of memory and processors. However, there have been no major innovations in the semiconductor since 1985 when TSMC introduced their chip OEM business model.
However, he added that there are currently several projects under development; however, they still need to be observed. Perhaps ten years later some of these projects will have the opportunity to succeed and be added to the list of important innovations. Among the projects under his observation, high state subsidy policies are at the top of the list (China and Abu Dhabi) followed by technical projects, 2.5/3D packaging, EUV, AI, design architecture, and the development of new materials (carbon nanotubes and graphene).
He believes that future semiconductor innovations will have to be feasible to implement and promote. Their costs will be enormous, and inventors may not be able to bear this burden. More worthy of mention is the fact that the markets which can be created will not necessarily be profitable. Hence, being able to produce what he refers to as “good correlation” will be necessary to bring about more comprehensive impacts on the semiconductor industry.
(TR/ Phil Sweeney)
