The semiconductor founding father

The Indicator from Planet Money

NPR

Business

4.7 • 9.5K Ratings

🗓️ 22 December 2021

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

One Taiwanese company, TSMC, makes 90% of the most advanced semiconductors — the chips for your phone or car. From Hong Kong to Boston to Texas to Taipei: This is TSMC founder Morris Chang's story.

Transcript

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0:00.0	NPR.
0:11.5	If you have the latest iPhone, you'll find inside it a computer chip with parts so
0:16.2	fine-grained that you can measure them in atoms.
0:19.8	That processing chip contains 15 billion transistors.
0:23.7	The iPhone chip and most cutting-edge chips for computers and cars are made in a handful
0:29.0	of factories on a small island in the Pacific, in Taiwan.
0:33.6	And the story of how Taiwan came to make the most advanced chips in the world can basically
0:38.6	be told through the story of one man, Morris Chang.
0:42.4	He's like a founding father of the chip-slash semiconductor industry.
0:47.6	It's not an exaggeration to say that Morris' personal career choices and his obstacles
0:52.6	shaped the balance of power between the US and the world.
0:58.2	This is the indicator for planet money.
0:59.8	I'm Adrian Ma.
1:00.8	And I'm Darian Woods.
1:01.8	Today on the show, how Morris Chang built up America's chip-making industry and why he took
1:07.0	it to Taiwan.
1:14.4	This message comes from NPR sponsor Capital One.
1:17.9	Capital One auto navigator can help you find a car, get pre-qualified instantly, and see
1:22.8	your real monthly payment without impacting your credit score.
1:26.5	Capital One.
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1:29.6	More at capitalone.com slash auto navigator.
	...

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