"Boss, who is this?" Cheng Du on the side looked at Yu Zixian's pale face and couldn't help asking.

"Zhang Zhongmou, our future opponent, a strong opponent. ”

At this time, although Zhang Zhongmou did not have the domineering spirit he had twenty years later, he did make great contributions to promoting the evolution of the semiconductor industry in another time and space, especially in the development and growth of the foundry model.

Founded in 1987 and headquartered in Hsinchu, Taiwan, TSMC is the world's first integrated circuit manufacturing company focusing on foundry.

After more than 30 years of development, TSMC has developed into the world's largest wafer foundry in 8102, with a market share of more than 50%. It provides approximately equivalent production capacity of more than 12 million pieces of 12-inch wafers, of which the main factory is located in Taiwan, and also has some production capacity in the United States, Shanghai, China, and Nanjing, China.

By 8102, the state-of-the-art process technology had reached 7nm, and the company was the first professional foundry in the world to provide 7nm foundry services

TSMC's more than 30-year development history is inseparable from its founder Zhang Zhongmou.

Zhang was about 55 years old when he founded TSMC and has extensive experience in the semiconductor industry.

Zhang Zhongmou was born in 1931 in Ningbo, Zhejiang, the son of a finance director of the Ningbo County Government, and later moved to Taiwan with his family.

In 1949, Zhang Zhongmou went to Boston to study at Harvard University, transferred to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology the following year, and received a master's degree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1952.

After graduation, Zhang Zhongmou originally hoped to work at Ford Motor, but because he was neglected in the starting salary negotiation, he chose to work in the semiconductor department of Sylvania, and coincidentally crossed over into the semiconductor industry. Although it did not match his professional background, Zhang Zhongmou quickly rose to prominence through diligent self-study and was promoted to the head of the company's R&D department in more than a year.

In 1958, Zhang Zhongmou jumped to Texas Instruments due to the problems of the original company's operation, continued to show his technical talents, repeatedly exceeded expectations to solve the company's production yield and other major problems, and led the team to successfully develop new products many times.

While working at Texas Instruments, the company also sent him to Stanford University to pursue a Ph.D. because of his ability. After Zhang Zhongmou returned to Texas Instruments after defending his doctoral dissertation, he was just in time for the company to encounter IBM's order for a component that was not yet ready for production. Zhang Zhongmou led the team to research and development, and soon developed this product, contributing a lot of profits to the company.

Two years later, Zhang was promoted to vice president of Texas Instruments, and five years later to senior vice president in charge of global semiconductor business, becoming the No. 3 person.

Later, Zhang Zhongmou left Texas Instruments due to a conflict of strategic insights and returned to Taiwan to start a new business. At that time, Texas Instruments hoped to transform into the field of consumer electronics, and hoped that Zhang Zhongmou would rebuild a consumer electronics empire in addition to semiconductors. However, Zhang Zhongmou firmly believed that the semiconductor industry still had good development prospects, did not agree with Deyi's strategic transformation, and left Texas Instruments in 1983.

After his departure, Chang served briefly as president of General Instruments, and returned to Taiwan in 1985 when he was invited to become president of the Industrial Technology Research Institute of Taiwan.

In 1986, while serving as the president of the Industrial Technology Research Institute, Zhang Zhongmou established the Taiwan Integrated Circuit Manufacturing Company, and TSMC was established.

At the beginning of its establishment, a new business model was created - wafer foundry. At that time, the global semiconductor industry adopted a single IDM model, that is, the three processes of chip design, chip production and testing and packaging were completed within the enterprise, which was adopted by giants such as Intel and Samsung at that time.

Most of these companies have external-facing foundry work as a side business, and the main business is to design and sell their own products, so there is no professional foundry service in the market.

Zhang Zhongmou saw such an opportunity and wanted to establish a pure wafer foundry company.

At the beginning of its establishment, the goal was to become "world-class". Zhang Zhongmou set a lofty goal for TSMC at the beginning of its establishment, saying, "When I run a semiconductor company, of course, I want it to prosper for a long time." There's only one way to go – world-class. ”

In the first decade, TSMC did not soar at the beginning of its establishment, but faced many difficulties.

The first is that the new business model is not recognized, and orders are scarce. Although TSMC now seems to have pioneered the foundry model, it was still an unfamiliar business model in the market at the time. Moreover, TSMC opened in Taiwan, and Taiwan's semiconductor industry at that time was also just starting out and had no global influence. TSMC has just been established for a year or two, and there are no customers, orders are scarce, and it is difficult to maintain.

When TSMC was founded, it was in the midst of a depression in the semiconductor industry. The year of TSMC's establishment coincided with a relatively sluggish period in the semiconductor industry, and the growth rate of total turnover in the global semiconductor market rapidly slowed from a high level. The growth rate of the industry was basically negative in 1985, and the market picked up when TSMC was officially established in 1987, but it was still in a downturn overall, and the growth rate of the industry was not as good as before. At that time, TSMC was a young company, with no market foundation, and the unfavorable market environment made TSMC's start more difficult.

Zhang Zhongmou's leadership ability played a decisive role. Zhang Zhongmou is a person with a firm goal, he once said, "Everyone should set a goal, achieve it, and then set a higher goal, and force themselves to achieve it." ”。

In the adversity of start-ups, Zhang Zhongmou's goal of becoming a world-class wafer foundry company is clear and unwavering. He encouraged his colleagues: "If you have new courage and new confidence, you can sprint again."

Private friendship leads the way, strong execution wins Intel certification, and TSMC ushers in a turnaround.

In 1988, Chang Zhongmou, who was reappointed chairman of Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute, together with the newly appointed general manager, invited his old friend Andy Grove (former chairman and CEO of Intel Corporation) to Taiwan to certify TSMC and strive to manufacture products for Intel. Getting Intel's certification is very important for TSMC, because it means getting a world-class certification, which is the best endorsement of its production capacity.

The Grove team did not relax its assessment of TSMC, and asked more than 200 questions for TSMC to improve immediately. Zhang Zhongmou promoted the improvement of problems with a strong style, adhered to high standards, strict requirements and absolute world view, and finally won the certification and orders, and also established international standards for the company.

Taking advantage of the rapid growth of the industry's recovery, TSMC was listed on the Bay Island Stock Exchange on September 5, 1994, and on the New York Stock Exchange on October 8, 1997.

In 2003, when TSMC and ASML began to cooperate, through ASML cooperation, they began to rise strongly when a major breakthrough was made in 193nm immersion lithography technology!

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