You are listening to the DFJ Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders series, brought you weekly by the Stanford Technology Ventures Program.

You can find podcasts and videos of these lectures online at eChorner.standford.edu. Thank you. But let's start with the point that Jensen made, the tremendous impact that TSM has had.

Not only the creation of the fabulous semiconductor industry that I think couldn't exist

without that leadership, but also the tremendous impact it had on the Taiwan semi-conductor

manufacturing and really being the spearhead for the growth of that industry.

Did you anticipate those kinds of changes when you began the company?

Did you think you could have that

kind of impact around the world? No, not at all, John. Actually, the very idea, the new business model,

the pure play, foundry business model.

Now everybody thinks that it was a pretty clever idea.

But at the time, it was really a solution that was looking for a problem.

Because... solution that was looking for a problem. Because, as Jensen said, it was meant to be a platform.

But problem was that at the time, nobody needed that platform. There were very few fabulous companies in existence at that time. There were maybe 20-some fabulous companies.

Now even those fabulous companies did not think that they needed a TSM.

They felt that they would rather go to Toshiba, NEC, Hitachi, Fujitsu, or even Intel or TTI for

FAP service, foundry service. Now, of course I mean those big guys, the Japanese companies,

the Intel's and TIs, really didn't want them, you know, and they would make stuff, make

wafer for the little fabulous companies

only at a very steep price, not a financial steep price,

but the price of wanting their designs

for their own sales, for their own products.

But still, we were not trusted enough,

...