On Oct. 26, TSMC founder Morris Chang pointed out that globalization and free trade have brought prosperity to the world in the past and that Thomas L. Friedman once wrote that “the world is flat,” but today the world is no longer flat. He pointed out that the supply chain for semiconductors in the U.S. is imperfect and production costs are high, and he believes that the U.S. is unlikely to succeed in encouraging local manufacturing of semiconductors.
According to Taiwanese media reports, Zhang delivered a speech on “Learning and Growth for Business People” at the 20th-anniversary dinner of the Yushan Technology Association this evening and answered questions afterward.
When asked about his opinion on actively promoting local semiconductor manufacturing in the U.S. and Intel’s intention to expand its investment, Zhang said that the U.S. semiconductor manufacturing market share used to be 42%, but has now dropped to 17%. He believes that the supply chain in the U.S. is incomplete and production costs are high, so local manufacturing of semiconductors in the U.S. is unlikely to be successful.
On the impact of Intel’s active advocacy of U.S. government subsidies for U.S.-based semiconductor fabs, Zhang Zhongmou said Intel’s motive is to target U.S. government subsidies and that this poses a challenge to Asian and even global semiconductor fabs.
On the competitiveness of the semiconductor industry in China and Taiwan, Zhang Zhongmou said that the semiconductor industry in China and Taiwan is very competitive, but the factories must be located in China and Taiwan.