Taiwan chip veteran calls working for China’s top foundry SMIC a ‘foolish’ decision
- Chiang Shang-yi, a former executive at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, served as vice-chairman for the mainland’s top chip maker for a year
- The industry veteran said his decision to join a mainland company tarnished his reputation in Taiwan, despite receiving the blessings of TSMC’s founder
Chiang Shang-yi, a Taiwanese semiconductor industry veteran who helped build the world’s largest contract chip foundry, called his decision to join mainland China’s top chip maker “one of the foolish things” he had done, according to a newly released interview transcript.
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He became vice-chairman at the mainland firm in December 2020. Just three days after he was on board, the United States imposed sanctions against SMIC, barring it from purchasing advanced equipment for making chips at 10-nanometre or below.
“Because I am a US citizen, it did bother me a lot,” said Chiang, who pursued graduate studies at Princeton University and Stanford University. He added that he thought the mainland Chinese government did not trust him because he was a Taiwanese with US citizenship.
In his interview with CHM, Chiang said he first decided to sit on SMIC’s board because his close friend Chiu Tzu-Yin, a former colleague at TSMC and SMIC’s chief executive at the time, asked him to help out. He said he also received the blessings of TSMC founder Morris Chang.