The century reconciliation of Taiwan wafer foundry duo
A year before Zhang Zhongmou returned to Taiwan in 1984, Zhang Zhongmou was still president of general equipment in the United States. Cao Xingcheng had been general manager of United Power for two years. Taiwan had been looking for Zhang Zhongmou to return to Taiwan to develop semiconductors. Cao also asked people to put forward the strategy of transforming wafer foundry to Zhang Zhongmou, but Zhang Zhongmou did not agree.
According to the Taiwan media United Daily News, the 40th anniversary celebration of Taiwan's Hsinchu Science Park Administration was held yesterday, and outstanding achievement contribution awards were awarded to Zhang Zhongmou, Cao Xingcheng, Acer computer founder Shi Zhenrong, and MediaTek Chairman Cai Mingjie. After Cao Xingcheng came to power, he shook hands with Zhang Zhongmou on the stage. the two said peace to each other, and the two men shared the "grip of the century." the scene cheered and applauded.
Chang Chung-mou and Cao Xingcheng are known as the heads of wafer duo TSMC and UMC. Their bright plot is the epitome of competition in Taiwan's semiconductor industry, and because "who first proposed wafer foundry" left a century of suspense, the two men "the king did not see the king" for a long time. After Cao Xingcheng took the stage to receive the award yesterday and before his speech, he suddenly turned around and stretched out his hand to greet Zhang Zhongmou. Zhang Zhongmou, who was originally on crutches, also got up directly to respond to the "grip of the Century" despite the attack of arthritis, and the two interacted enthusiastically.Wang Yongzhuang, director of science and management, said that in the 40 years since the establishment of the bamboo family, many people have contributed to the development of the bamboo family. Zhang Zhongmou, Shi Zhenrong, Cao Xingcheng and Tsai Ming-Kai, four representatives who have made outstanding contributions to the bamboo family, have been jointly elected by the director of the Bureau of Management.In his speech, Zhang Zhongmou said that land is very important to manufacturers, especially for new startups. He affirms that the provision of land and the establishment of a single window by Bamboo Branch is one of the important drivers in promoting the technology industry. Cao Xingcheng said that in the future, water and electricity will also become a major focus of scientific and technological development, and it is suggested that manufacturers can jointly set up desalination plants to solve the problem of water shortage in bamboo families during the long dry period of bamboo seedlings.Zhang Zhongmou also mentioned that when Sun Yunkui named the bamboo family, the full name was "Hsinchu Science and Industry Park," but soon the word "industry" was abolished. He joked that with the rapid development of bamboo family, he might even be able to get rid of "science" in a few years. Even in a few years, even the word "Hsinchu" will be removed, so it will be called "park".Zhang Zhongmou said that he and Cao just said hello to each other on the stage. Cao Xingcheng also said that we "wish each other good health!" "there is no deliberate silence, and there are no knots! In a few words, the grudges and feuds of the past 20 years have suddenly become light and light. Cao Xingcheng even praised TSMC for becoming a sacred mountain for protecting the island. it was really great, and a single compliment was not enough. Cao Xingcheng stressed once again that TSMC was "amazing!" "he will invite Zhang Zhongmou to get together sometime in the future, and he also admires the scale of TSMC's development to where it is today.Shi Zhenrong said in his speech that bamboo has made specific contributions to science and to human material civilization. although Taiwan is small, it is the center of the world and the center of silicon civilization, but in essence, it needs further thinking and contribution to spiritual civilization. Taiwan can do health and epidemic prevention medical treatment if it wants to turn over in the future.Tsai Ming-Kai said with a smile that of the four winners, three of his predecessors have retired, and only he is still in active service. He expects more outstanding young people to join this challenging industry with the same enthusiasm as they did then.The feud between Zhang Zhongmou and Cao Xingcheng
Wafer duo TSMC and UMC were once tense competitors, competing with each other. After more than 20 years of fierce battle, TSMC, which insisted on keeping its production base in Taiwan, has obviously won a complete victory, and no one can replace its position in the global wafer generation industry. revenue, profit and share price are all much higher than those of UMC.In the past, Chang Chung-mou, chairman of TSMC, and Cao Xingcheng, honorary chairman of UMC, were still like the "two suns" of Taiwan's semiconductor industry. In the past, Wang did not see Wang's bright complex, which was still the most frequently discussed topic in the industry.Zhang Zhongmou was born in 1931 in Ningbo, Zhejiang, China, with a bachelor's degree and master's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a doctorate in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. Zhang Zhongmou worked in Texas Instruments (TI) for more than 25 years and rose to senior vice president. In 1985, Zhang Zhongmou was invited to return to Taiwan as president of the Industrial Research Institute, and the Executive Yuan Development Fund funded the establishment of TSMC and UMC, all of which were chaired by Zhang Zhongmou.Unlike Zhang Zhongmou's experience in international studies, Cao Xingcheng, who was born in Shimizu in Taichung in 1947, never drank foreign ink. after graduating with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from National Taiwan University and a master's degree from the Institute of Management of Jiaotong University, he entered the Industrial Research Institute, participated in the RCA program and went to the United States to study semiconductor technology transfer. From 1981, he became deputy general manager of United Power, a derivative company of the Industrial Research Institute. When Cao Xingcheng was the general manager of UMC, the chairman was Zhang Zhongmou.UMC started with IC design and manufacturing, that is, the so-called integrated component manufacturing plant (IDM). Cao Xingcheng realized that this business model was very hard. Before Zhang Zhongmou founded TSMC, he had already developed a wafer foundry plan for the transformation of UMC. In 1984, he flew to the United States to consult Zhang Zhongmou, who had not yet returned to Taiwan as a technology consultant. Zhang did not agree. Unexpectedly, three years later, Zhang Zhongmou founded TSMC, a pure wafer foundry, and the outside world called him the "father of wafer foundry." Cao Xingcheng was very dissatisfied with this and thought that his proposal had been implemented, so he planted the knot that the two men competed with each other later.It was not until 1995 that UMC transformed from IDM to wafer foundry, dividing its internal IC design into IC design companies such as MediaTek and Lianyong, focusing on contract manufacturing. Although TSMC was eight years late, Cao Xingcheng, who refused to admit defeat, with flexible management and diversified investment techniques, found foreign companies to jointly set up five 8-inch wafer foundry companies and then merged to buy factories in Japan and set up factories in Singapore. After that, TSMC also went to the United States to set up factories and acquire World University.Zhang and Cao also openly opposed each other over whether the employee dividend rights issue was expensive or not. Cao Xingcheng, who pioneered the employee dividend rights issue, defended the maintenance of this system. He believed that this innovation in which employees could enjoy the profits of the company should be maintained. Zhang Zhongmou has publicly criticized Zhang Zhongmou for saying that it is wrong to spend money on employee dividend rights.The two people are even more different in the practice of landing and setting up a factory. In the face of Zhang Rujing's founding of SMIC in Shanghai to replicate the Taiwan wafer foundry model, Cao Xingcheng also preemptively assisted the establishment of Suzhou and Shipbuilding when the policy did not open the wafer landing, triggering inspection and adjustment to search for Lianhe. Cao Xingcheng, who has a straightforward personality, repeatedly reported in the newspaper and hit back; Zhang Zhongmou was impatient, but it was not until the decree permitted that he went to Shanghai Songjiang to invest and set up a factory.The 0.13um process is a watershed for widening the gap between wafers. In 2000, after leading TSMC in the 0.18um process, UMC chose to jointly develop the 0.13m process with IBM and Infineon. As a result, the research and development was not smooth. TSMC, which decided to develop its own technology, has since left UMC. Over the past decade, 0.13um, 90nm, 65nm, 40nm and then 28nm technology, several generations of technology have been in succession. UMC is gradually lagging behind TSMC, and the gap in revenue and share price is widening with TSMC.The air-to-air confrontation between the two male contract manufacturers
1974:Sun Yunyi, then minister of economy, discussed with Pan Wen-yuan, then director of the RCA research office, and decided on the strategy of introducing integrated circuit (IC) technology from the United States to develop Taiwan's science and technology industry.1979:Lianhua Electronics was derived from ITRI, and Cao Xingcheng, then deputy director of the Institute of Electronics of ITRI, decided to join as deputy general manager of UMC.1984:A year before Zhang Zhongmou returned to Taiwan, Zhang Zhongmou was still president of general equipment for American businessmen. Cao Xingcheng had been general manager of United Power for two years. Taiwan had been looking for Zhang Zhongmou to return to Taiwan to develop semiconductors. Cao also asked people to put forward a strategy for transforming wafer foundry to Zhang Zhongmou, but Zhang Zhongmou did not agree.1985:Zhang Zhongmou returned to Taiwan as president of ITRI and chairman of UMC. In the same year, Cao Xingcheng put forward the idea of privatization, pushing UMC into Taiwan's first listed semiconductor company.1986:Zhang Zhongmou derived from the Industrial and Technical Research Institute to set up TSMC, the main mode of operation is wafer foundry. Cao Xingcheng thought that he was the original creator, but he was implemented by Zhang Zhongmou and enjoyed national resources.Zhang Zhongmou is also chairman of the Industrial Research Institute and chairman of TSMC, but TSMC already had a six-inch factory, but UMC did not. Cao Xingcheng, then general manager of UMC, decided that Zhang Zhongmou was obstructing it.1992:Before the meeting of the board of directors of UMC, Cao Xingcheng and other directors reached a consensus to force Zhang Zhongmou to resign from the board seat on the grounds of "business competition avoidance". The battle for supremacy between the two wafers began.In the early days of the development of TSMC, compared with the same wafer generation factory, the two companies compared production process, production capacity, and customers, and the two leaders, Zhang Zhongmou and Cao Xingcheng, kept talking repeatedly.Who first put forward the concept of wafer foundry?
Cao Xingcheng mentioned in 2002 that Taiwan's wafer foundry (Foundry) was first promoted by UMC, and the government handed over the relevant plan to TSMC in 1987. Zhang Zhongmou, then chairman of TSMC, pointed out that the professional integrated circuit manufacturing service (wafer foundry) industry was created with the creation of TSMC in 1987.TSMC decided to bid at a reasonable price higher than the consensus of the industry, and TSMC was the only one to open the bid. It is said that Zhang Zhongmou also scolded Cao Xingcheng for two days.The two also hold different views on the issue of fabs setting up factories in the mainland. Cao Xingcheng once said that TSMC's investment in the Shanghai Songjiang plant was a compensation all the way, but Liandian did not lose a dime to help Hejian.The 0.13 micron debut has become a watershed in the competition between the two powers, and TSMC has leapt all the way to become the overlord of foundry foundry. The gap between UMC's technology and performance has widened, making the title of wafer duo into history. Today, UMC has gradually faded out of the leading group in the advanced process competition to pursue stable growth and profits.In 1997, Brooke, the former chief operating officer of TSMC, suddenly resigned as Zhang Zhongmou's favorite general. three months later, he showed up as United Power's general manager in the United States. although Brooke finally left the two major fab factories, Zhang Zhongmou decided that Cao was poaching.Cao Xingcheng, honorary chairman of United Power, once said in a speech, "United Power is the hero of the times, while TSMC is the hero of the times." Zhang Zhongmou, then chairman of TSMC, said, "this is a pointless discussion." TSMC has established its own path, and the theory that heroes create times or heroes can only appear in Chinese martial arts novels.Cao Xingcheng promoted the five-in-one Group at UMC, while TSMC, led by Zhang Zhongmou, acquired Acer and Shida successively.Chang Chung-mou once criticized the employee dividend system as a compromise devised by finding loopholes in the law, which has long been disadvantageous to the cultivation of talents, while Cao Xingcheng believes that employee dividend and share allotment is a major invention of Taiwan's high-tech industry, which has led to the sudden rise of the semiconductor industry.
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