Morris Chang

Who

Born in 1931, Morris Chang spent about 25 years at Texas Instruments before moving to Taiwan in the 1980s. In 1987, in his mid-fifties, he founded Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. He led it, with a short interruption, until he retired in 2018.

I spent three years working inside the system he built. That is part of why I study him: I have seen his principles at work in daily operations, not just in interviews.

Operating rules

Invent the category, then own its trust. In 1987 chip companies designed and manufactured their own chips. Chang bet on a company that would only manufacture, for others. That model, the pure-play foundry, only works if customers trust you completely with their designs.

Don’t compete with your customers. Because TSMC never sells its own chips, its customers never have to worry that their foundry will become their rival. That one refusal turned into one of the deepest moats in industry.

Play the long game in public. He spoke about integrity, long-term commitments and patience in capital spending for decades, and the company’s behavior matched the words. Consistency over that length of time is itself a strategy.

Start late, if that’s when the idea is ready. He founded his most important company at an age when many executives are planning their exit.

What I borrowed

The idea that a refusal can be a strategy. Deciding what you will never do, and holding to it for decades, creates trust that no marketing can buy. My own anti-goals are a small personal version of this.

What I won’t copy

His scale of ambition was built on a national industrial opportunity that came once in a generation. I take the rules, not the expectation that the same window will open again.