Ep. 7 From Silicon Valley to Hsinchu: How Taiwan's Engineers Built the World's Semiconductor Industry

Host Wenchi Yu speaks to Konrad Young 楊光磊. Trained as an engineer in Taiwan and the US, Konrad’s life journey mirrors Taiwan’s semiconductor history. As one of the six “R&D knights,” Konrad retired from TSMC in 2018. He was an independent director of SMIC from 2019 to 2021 and an advisor to Intel. He started his career at MIT Lincoln Lab.

After President Trump’s White House announcement of TSMC’s $100 billion investment in the U.S. on March 3rd, reactions in Taiwan have been mixed. Many in Taiwan have expressed concerns about potentially losing the island's competitive edge to the U.S. 

It took Taiwan decades to establish itself as a global leader in high-tech hardware manufacturing. The journey began as a government industrial policy aimed at securing a future for the impoverished island after World War II, relying on highly educated and hardworking engineers. Some were trained by the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工業技術研究院), a government affiliate that eventually incubated TSMC, UMC, and other leading companies, while the others left Taiwan in the 1960s and 70s to pursue advanced STEM education. 

Thanks to the U.S. immigration policies that attracted STEM talent, waves of top engineering graduates moved to the U.S. and contributed to the growth of Silicon Valley’s semiconductor industry. When these engineers returned to Taiwan, bringing with them valuable experience from leading technology companies, they helped establish Taiwan’s own "Silicon Valley"—Hsinchu Science Park.

Today, TSMC’s dominance has become a double-edged sword for both the company and the island nation. However, the optimistic Konrad sees great opportunity to leverage this advantage to connect more deeply with the global market. 

The United States consumed 25% of the world’s semiconductors in 2019, among them 34% were advanced logic chips, but had zero capacity to manufacture just a few years ago. Onshoring TSMC could help increase its capacity to 28% of the global supply by 2032, according to BCG reports. However, manufacturing critical and defense-related infrastructure chips raises other national security concerns. Konrad asks if this will have implications for TSMC’s future.

Konrad also discussed China’s growing semiconductor capabilities and the economic incentives, driven by its massive market, for the country to catch up in mainstream semiconductor manufacturing.

The story of Taiwan and semiconductors is one of resilience–making the best out of a dire situation, immigrants seeking better education and economic opportunities, and a culture of pragmatism, hard work, and seizing the moment. 

00:00:04 Introduction
00:01:53 Guest: Konrad Young 楊光磊
00:02:24 Taiwan’s Economic and Industrial Transformation
00:04:42 Studying and Working Abroad
00:06:50 Taiwan’s Semiconductor Talent Development
00:15:00 The Rise of Taiwan’s Semiconductor Industry
00:19:24 Globalization and Taiwan’s Role
00:39:11 The 1994 Turning Point: IPOs
00:44:10 TSMC’s R&D Infrastructure: A Game-Changer
00:48:02 The Role of AI in Semiconductor Development
00:50:00 China’s Semiconductor Growth & Challenges
00:55:00 US Export Controls and Their Impact on China: Choking Point
01:00:00 Geopolitics & Taiwan’s Semiconductor Industry
01:08:00 TSMC’s $100 Billion US Investment
01:12:00 Future of the Semiconductor Industry?

Perspectives with Wenchi Yu

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