New Documentary Explores How Taiwan Dominated the Global Semiconductor Industry

A new documentary that is currently showing in Vancouver, Canada traces the history of how Taiwan came to conquer the global semiconductor industry. Currently, the island nation produces at least 60% of all the semiconductors made globally and supplies about 90% of all advanced chips needed around the world.

This hasn’t always been the case, and Taiwan worked its way from the ground up to the dominant position it now commands in this industry. A Chip Odyssey, the new documentary made by a Canadian team led by Hsiao Chu-chen, traces the history of how this small island nation achieved this remarkable technological feat.

Like all major triumphs, Taiwan’s semiconductor dominance had its roots in crushing adversity. In the 1970s, Taiwan, which was then referred to as Republic of China, suffered a series of humiliations. First, the country was thrown out of the UN so that the PRC (People’s Republic of China) could take its seat at the global body. The PRC insisted that only one China existed, and that China was the PRC.

In 1973, there was an oil embargo imposed by Arab countries. This embargo caused inflation in Taiwan to skyrocket to 61% and there was widespread, crushing hardship in Taiwan. In 1976, Taiwan again suffered another humiliation after its athletes were barred from competing in the Summer Games held in Montreal under the country’s flag and were instead forced to fly the PRC flag.

On New Year’s Day in 1979, the United States severed diplomatic ties with the Republic of China (now Taiwan). This was a huge shock that motivated leaders in the country to urgently seek ways to jumpstart the economy of the country so that it could sustain itself without depending on any diplomatic or economic help from foreign nations.

In 1976, the country had sent a team of young engineers to the U.S. to learn everything they could in the industry. After diplomatic ties with America were cut off, it became even more urgent for the team to acquire all the technological skills they could muster and return to their country.

Under the visionary leadership of Sun Yun-suan, the then prime minister of the island nation, the country focused on putting technological innovation at the center of the country’s development agenda. In 1985, Hu Ding-Hua, the pioneering director of the organization (Electronic Research & Services Organization) to which the young engineers were sent in the U.S., made a proposal that formed the foundation upon which TSMC was formed as a company focused on semiconductor fabrication.

Today, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company makes chips used in practically every industry on the globe. In an interview featured in the documentary, Nvidia’s CEO Huang pays glowing tribute to Morris Chang, who founded TSMC. He says Chuang raised an elephant that can not only dance but also jump through hoops.

The documentary is rich in history and shows that the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. (NYSE: TSM) we know today has roots that run deep, motivated by the need to keep Taiwan alive and claim a place on the world stage for its own survival.

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