1987
Philips supplied 28% of TSMC's initial capital and the Taiwanese government 50%, out of about $220 million in total.
“So they put up 28% of the capital. Government puts up 50%. It ends up being 220 million in total.”
Topic
TSMC
44 facts from 12 episodes, in date order. These are what speakers said on the shows, each linked to the moment it was said. They aren't independently verified.
1987
The host says TSMC was set up with a $0 pre-money valuation and that Morris Chang received no equity at the start.
“It was $0. Morris Chang got no equity in the company.”
1987
The hosts state that the world semiconductor market grew from $26 billion when TSMC was founded in 1987 to $527 billion the year before the 2025 recording.
“Since TSMC was founded in 1987, the world's semiconductor market has grown from $26 billion to $527 billion last year.”
1990s
Morris Chang says TSMC required customer deposits during its early capacity shortages and could confiscate them if customers did not take the wafers.
“we figured out that we'll require a deposit from the customer. And we'll even confiscate the deposit if the time comes for him to take the wafers, and he doesn't”
1994
TSMC listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange in 1994 and the New York Stock Exchange in 1997.
“they went public on the Taiwan Stock Exchange in 1994 and then the New York Stock Exchange in 1997.”
1995
Morris Chang says TSMC exceeded $1 billion in revenue in 1995, two years before NVIDIA approached it.
“I remember we had exceeded the $1 billion U.S. dollars in revenue in 95, and this was 97.”
1997
Morris Chang says that for NVIDIA to be a major TSMC customer it would need to generate at least $50 million in revenue a year.
“and to be a major customer of ours, he would have to produce revenue for us of at least 50 million a year”
1999
Morris Chang says NVIDIA became one of TSMC's five biggest customers within two or three years of the 1997 meeting.
“Within two or three years, they did become one of the biggest five customers of TSMC.”
1999
Morris Chang says IBM asked TSMC to co-develop the 130-nanometer process in 1999, and TSMC declined.
“The next step they took was to ask us, TSMC, to co-develop the next generation of technology, which is 0.13 micron, 130 nanometer”
2001
Morris Chang says TSMC's downturn after the internet bubble began in the first quarter of 2001 and recovered in the third quarter of 2003.
“The first quarter of 2001, and recovered in the third quarter of 2003.”
2008
Morris Chang says the previous TSMC CEO laid off about 600 to 700 employees with the worst performance reviews around the 2008 financial crisis.
“He used the bad performance review, the worst performance review people, and there were about 600 or 700 of them”
2009
TSMC announced in summer 2009 that Morris Chang was returning as CEO, replacing Rick Tsai.
“They announced that Morris is returning to lead TSMC as CEO. Rick is out.”
2009
Morris Chang took back the CEO position at TSMC in 2009 after a period in which another executive held the job.
“So I decided to take the CEO position back. So in 2009, I did that.”
2009
Morris Chang says more than 100 laid-off TSMC employees protested at his home, with 50 to 60 police officers sent to keep order.
“the police department sent 50, 60 police officers to try to maintain the order. Now, more than 100 protesters appeared.”
2009
Morris Chang offered NVIDIA more than $100 million to settle the 40-nanometer dispute, with the offer valid for 48 hours.
“More than $100 million, yeah. And I also said, our offer is effective 48 hours.”
2009
Morris Chang set TSMC's R&D spending at 8% of revenue, regardless of recession, after it had been running at 6 to 7%.
“We've been running 6 or 7% already. So I said, oh, let's pick 8%. 8% regardless of whether there's a recession or not.”
2010
To win Apple's business, TSMC committed an initial $9 billion and 6,000 employees to a dedicated plant, according to a Bloomberg report the host cites.
“it meant an initial investment of $9 billion, fabs are expensive to build, and devoting 6,000 employees to building a dedicated plan for Apple in just 11 months.”
2010
Morris Chang says his plan to roughly triple TSMC's capital spending for 28 nanometers drew many questions from the board.
“But suddenly, increasing capital spending, threefold, I think, did invite a lot of questions from the board.”
2010
Morris Chang told TSMC's independent directors that he remained responsible for operating the company and that they should let him proceed with the 28-nanometer spending.
“I heard you, but I am still the guy that's responsible for the operation of the company. So, you need to let me go ahead with this one.”
2010
Morris Chang says TSMC's gross margin was already about 45% when Apple floated a 40% margin, and he was trying to raise it to 50%.
“but our margin at that time was already 45%. And I was trying to push it up to 50%.”
2011
Morris Chang says TSMC financed the Apple-related capital spending by borrowing, rather than cutting its dividend or selling new stock.
“we decided not to cut dividend. We decided not to sell new stock. We decided to just borrow.”
2012
Intel, TSMC and Samsung together bought about 25 percent of ASML around 2012 to fund the development of EUV lithography systems.
“intel and tsmc and samsung partnered and actually bought 25 of asml to inject capital into asml to develop euv systems”
2013
Morris Chang says he was shocked to learn Apple had placed its first 16-nanometer orders with Samsung after TSMC took the 20-nanometer detour.
“it was a real shock when I heard that Apple had placed their first orders of 16 with Samsung”
2013
Lex Fridman asked about a story that Morris Chang offered Jensen Huang the chief executive role at TSMC in 2013; Huang confirmed the story and said he declined.
“in 2013, the founders of TSMC Morris Chang offered you the chance to become TSMC's chief executive”
2014
Morris Chang says TSMC developed its own 16-nanometer process about half a year later and still won most of Apple's 16-nanometer business.
“we had our own 16, about half a year later, and most of Apple's 16 nanometer requirements still belonged to us.”
2018
Morris Chang retired as TSMC chairman in June 2018 at age 86.
“And then finally, once it all plays out and TSMC is on top, in June of 2018, Morris retires, presumably for real?”
2019
ASML's EUV tools did not enter high-volume manufacturing until 2019, after about a decade of learning in TSMC's fabs following the first tool shipment in 2010.
“they didn't start high volume manufacturing on uv until 2019 so they had like almost a decade of learnings in tsmc's fabs”
2020
In 2020 TSMC earned about $20 billion in operating profit on roughly $48 billion of revenue.
“TSMC, we alluded to this, operating profit of $20 billion on $48 billion of revenue.”
2023
The host says CoWoS advanced packaging accounts for roughly 10 to 15 percent of TSMC's capacity, which limits how many H100s NVIDIA can get.
“So CoWoS represents right now about 10 to 15% of TSMC's capacities, and many of the facilities are custom built for exactly these types of chips that they're producing.”
Undated
The guest says TSMC has lower gross margins than most of its customers and could probably raise its margins from 50 to 60 percent but chooses not to.
“tsmc has lower gross margins than most of their customers and so at any point they could probably take their margins from 50 to 60”
Undated
John Bathgate says TSMC fabricates about a quarter of the digital chips made in the world.
“tsmc fabs a quarter of the digital chips made in the world right now”
Undated
Brinton Johns refers to TSMC's five-nanometer fab being built in Arizona.
“we're building this fab of course in arizona this five nanometer tsmc fab”
Undated
John Bathgate says the industry is moving from FinFET transistors to a gate-all-around architecture at the two- or three-nanometer generation.
“we are moving to a new transistor architecture either a two nanometer or three nanometer depending on which company you're talking about to a gate all around architecture previously we were on finfet”
Undated
John Bathgate says Nvidia has close to 70 percent gross margins and operating margins in the low 40s, which he attributes to TSMC absorbing the manufacturing cyclicality.
“nvidia's got close to 70 gross margins and like you know low 40s operating margins”
Undated
A guest recalls the Acquired TSMC episode citing about 17.7 percent annual growth sustained for 30 years.
“the number that you guys said in your podcast was 17.7 for 30 years or something like that”
Undated
After the Riva 128 succeeded, Jensen Huang wrote a physical letter to TSMC's Morris Chang, which led to a phone call and a partnership.
“After the Riva 128 hits and has become a big success, Jensen writes a letter to Morris, a physical letter, addresses it to Morris Chang in Taiwan.”
Undated
Nvidia and TSMC signed a multi-year deal making TSMC Nvidia's primary chip foundry, a relationship that continues today.
“The next year, the two companies sign a huge multi-year deal for TSMC to become the primary foundry for NVIDIA and still are today.”
Undated
Morris Chang was 56 years old when he founded TSMC.
“Morris Chang was 56 years old when he founded TSMC.”
Undated
Ben Thompson says extreme ultraviolet (EUV) chipmaking has roughly five to six years of progress left before the path forward is unclear.
“EUV has another five six years and then it's not super clear what's after that”
Undated
A host of Acquired says Morris Chang created the model of a chip company that only manufactures for others, with TSMC, before there was demand for it.
“he invented the notion of a fabulous semiconductor company before there was any demand for that”
Undated
Jensen Huang says eight of the roughly 35,000 parts in Nvidia's AI GPUs come from TSMC.
“Uh, out of those 35, zero parts, eight of them come from TSMC.”
Undated
Andrew Ng said China's recent ban on certain Nvidia chip imports signals movement toward independence from TSMC in Taiwan.
“it's been interesting to see China recently banned certain imports of Nvidia chips, which is a strong signal that China is moving toward independence from TSMC in Taiwan”
Undated
Rene Haas says TSMC is by far the main provider of AI compute chips, including everything Nvidia builds.
“Uh, TSMC is by far and away the provider of all these AI compute chips. Everything NVIDIA builds is from there.”
Undated
Jensen Huang says Nvidia has done hundreds of billions of dollars of business with TSMC over three decades without a contract.
“Three decades, I don't know how many tens, hundreds of billions of dollars of business we've done through them, and we don't have a contract.”
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