On November 9, Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC) founder, Morris Chang, was named the winner of the first K.T. Li Award, presented by the K.T. Li Foundation for Development of Science and Technology. The award is presented to individuals that have made outstanding contributions to Taiwan’s economic and technological development, who are widely recognized throughout Taiwanese society, are internationally well known, and who have deep connections to the late Mr. Li Kwoh-ting (K.T. Li).

The jury for the first K.T. Li Award consisted of former Premier Vincent Siew, Sercomm chairman emeritus Paul Wang, Delta Electronics founder Bruce C.H. Cheng, former National Taiwan University president Sun Jen, Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) chairman Lee Chih-Kung Lee, former ITRI president Chin-Tay Shih, and Taiwan Women on Boards Association chairwoman Jaclyn Tsai. The panel unanimously voted to give the award to Morris Chang. 

“Under Morris Chang’s leadership of TSMC, Taiwan attracted attention to become a brilliant technology island on the Pacific Rim. This is the highest embodiment of the K.T. Li Award,” said Vincent Siew during the presentation of the award.

Current TSMC chairman Dr. Mark Liu and CEO C.C. Wei attended the festivities. Also in attendance were President Tsai Ing-wen, ACER founder Stan Shih, Quanta founder Barry Lam, and Hon Hai founder Terry Gou. NVIDIA founder and chairman Jensen Huang was also present at the ceremony with his wife, Lori.

Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. (Source: Chien-Ying Chiu)

Following is the translated text of Morris Chang’s speech:

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I accept the first K.T. Li Award with utmost honor and humility. I would like to read from sections of my nearly completed, but not yet released autobiography, related to personal experiences with Mr. Li.

My relationship with Mr. Li Kwoh-ting can be illustrated in three acts. Everyone is familiar with the third act, that being Taiwan Semiconductor. However, most people are probably unaware of the first and second acts.

Act One: The Plot (1976-80)

In 1976 I was invited to visit Taiwan by the Chinese Institute of Engineers, chaired by (former Minister Without Portfolio) Fei Hua. At that time my career at Texas Instruments was at its height. I was not only president of TI’s global semiconductor operations, but also chairman of the company headquarters’ Business Growth Commission.

The Growth Commission was specially organized by then company CEO Patrick Haggerty. In addition to me as chairman, the company CEO, COO, and several vice presidents also sat on the commission.

Before then I rarely traveled to Taiwan, maybe once every year or two to visit the assembly testing facility in Chungho before proceeding to travel all over Asia.

In 1976, when Fei Hua invited me to give a speech in Taiwan, K.T. Li had undergone heart surgery and was serving as a Minister Without Portfolio. He came to listen to my speech about digital watches. In the capacity of company chairman, I explained how to plan, implement, set pricing, and how to estimate market size.

Immediately after the lecture, Mr. Li invited me to dine with him.

This was a plot. Texas Instruments was an outstanding company at the time, not only the world’s number one in semiconductors, but also involved in weapons development for national defense.

K.T. Li wanted to establish a relationship with TI as part of a deliberate plot. And my speech provided him with the opportunity.

This is the first act. The main characters were K.T. Li and Patrick Haggerty, but I was also a key character.

Not long thereafter, K.T. Li invited Mr. Haggerty for a two-week visit to Taiwan. Every meal was a banquet, there were daily speeches, and the floor was always covered with a red carpet. Technological advisors were present at Haggerty’s invitation, mostly from Europe and America.

For several years, K.T. Li visited TI nearly every year, and it was always me that hosted him.

A footage of how Li Kwoh-ting and Chang Chung-mou met, back in TSMC's infancy. (Source: Chien-Ying Chiu)

Scene Two: Making Overtures to Morris Chang (1980-82)

Patrick Haggerty passed away in 1980 from pancreatic cancer at just the age of 67. This was the start of the second act.

K.T. Li seemed to have a hunch that Haggerty was especially fond of me. With his passing, my days were likely numbered, so he should recruit me to come to Taiwan.

Whether the hunch was right or not, the logic wasn’t necessarily correct, to be honest. But the end result was right.

Following Haggerty’s death, K.T. Li invited me for a visit to Taiwan in 1981, and wrote up a report in English afterwards. The report itself wasn’t important; rather, Mr. Li’s main purpose was to entice me to Taiwan.

By 1982 he brought out the heavy artillery.

Sun Yun-suan, who was the premiere at the time, got along well with K.T. Li. Sun personally asked me to come to Taiwan, and in a week presented me with an offer.

He said, “You won’t be losing out with this salary.” But these were the words of an outsider, since my income at the time came largely from stock options. I explained to Sun, but whether he didn’t understand or pretended not to understand, his offer was close in terms of salary, but overlooked my other sources of income at Texas Instruments.

Li was also involved, and the offer he gave me gave three choices, namely president of the Industrial Technology Research Institute, technology advisor to the premiere,d or a venture capital enterprise that Mr. Li wanted to set up. The salary was the same for each one.

I definitely found myself on a downward trajectory at TI at the time, and when I got back to Dallas I asked the CEO if I could keep my US$2-3 million in stock options and take an unpaid leave of absence to go to Taiwan. The CEO responded, “absolutely not.”

So I told Sun and Li that I couldn’t go.

Sun Yun-suan’s reply was quite polite, but Li angrily wrote back, saying “Even with such great terms you still won’t come.” And over the next three years it could be said that my relationship with him was cut off.

Act Three: Founding TSMC (1985-88)

In 1985, Hsu Shien-Siu, president of the Industrial Technology Research Institute, approached me. Sun Yun-suan had suffered a stroke by that time, and I was surprised that it wasn’t K.T. Li who came to me.

I had exercised my Texas Instruments stock options, and I agreed with Hsu Shien-Siu that my first mission would be president of the Industrial Technology Research Institute. When I later ran into Li, he wondered aloud, “Why didn’t Hsu Shien-Siu say anything about approaching you?”

Even bigger than the position as president of ITRI was the mission of establishing a semiconductor company. Li came to me just three weeks into my role as ITRI president looking to start a company.

In his speech, Morris Chang shared the process of being recruited and honored Li Kwoh-ting's dedication to Taiwan. (Source: Chien-Ying Chiu)

This was the third act, from 1985 until his retirement in 1988.

How to go about establishing Taiwan Semiconductor’s business model was my idea. But promotion, and convincing the government to invest half of the funds was all Li.

To be clear, Li was at the end of his career at that point, and he had no shortage of political opponents. But he kept pushing until TSMC was founded in 1985.

Without his backing, Taiwan Semiconductor would not exist.

That is my story. The K.T. Li that I knew first of all was very passionate, and he was very patriotic. Second, he was also very honorable and ethical. Later, when he was concerned about having a place to live, I got someone to save his government-issued housing.

K.T. Li was passionate, patriotic, and loved learning. He was a great man.

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Translated by David Toman
Uploaded by Ian Huang