The Chip Titan Whose Life’s Work Is at the Center of a Tech Cold War
Summary
The Chip Titan Whose Life’s Work Is at the Center of a Tech Cold War In a wood-paneled office overlooking Taipei and the jungle-covered mountains that surround the Taiwanese capital, Morris Chang recently pulled out an old book stamped with technicolor patterns. “I would rather stay relatively unknown.” Over a recent three-hour discussion in his office, Mr. Chang made it clear that he identifies as American — he obtained his U.S. citizenship in 1962 — at a time when the company he founded is at the center of a technological Cold War between the United States and China. When Taiwanese officials set their sights on developing the semiconductor industry, they asked Mr. Chang, whose reputation as a chip expert was established, to lead an institute for supercharging innovation. Making chips involves hundreds of steps that pull on advanced lasers and chemical manipulations to create tiny pathways for electronic signals that do the most basic calculations for a computer. “A blockade of some kind, I think I still put it as low probability, but it’s still a chance and I want to avoid that.” Mr. Chang said he was not worried about U.S. policies that have cut off Chinese firms from access to cutting-edge semiconductor technology.