"chip war" is still vivid in my mind. Many people lamented that it would be great if we could have our own high-end chips. In fact, China does not have chips, but lacks high-end factories to produce it. Many people lamented that it would be great if we had a company similar to TSMC. Little do they know that , the world's first professional integrated circuit manufacturing service, is actually , which Zhang Zhongmou founded in his 50s, and he himself entered the palace of marriage at the age of 70.
Zhang Zhongmou
1931 Zhang Zhongmou was born in a wealthy family. At that time, his father was already the director of the Ningbo Finance Bureau, and later immigrated to the United States directly for various reasons. In the United States, he was exposed to the top technology at that time, including , Harvard, , Massachusetts, and Stanford. In 1952, Zhang Zhongmou successfully obtained a master's degree in the Department of Mechanics of MIT.
1958, at the age of 27, he joined Texas Instruments. He was well-known and led more than 30,000 employees in the company, which also made him stay in Texas Instruments for several decades. During this process, he did not give up studying and obtained a doctorate degree in the Department of Electrical Engineering of Stanford University in 1964. By the age of 41, he had already been the vice president of Texas Instruments and general manager of Semiconductor Economics Group. It is no exaggeration to describe Zhang Zhongmou as young and promising.
After staying in the United States for a long time, he also felt homesick. He chose Taiwan among many cities. With rich experience and high education, he was thinking about how to play a greater role in the semiconductor industry. After all, there is a fundamental difference between working for others and working for yourself.
Founded TSMC
In 1987, Zhang Zhongmou was already 56 years old. He founded TSMC despite the surprise of the outside world.
Compared with other companies' self-design, production and testing, Zhang Zhongmou invested a lot of money to manufacture products in the wafer industry, such as the well-known CPU . In this industry, there are two giants Intel and ADM. The latter's strength is of course not as good as the former, but the main reason why he dares to challenge Intel is that ADM only needs TSMC to design and manufacture, which greatly saves funds and reduces the burden on the manufacturing industry.
This also makes TSMC's business bigger and bigger. The United States' Apple Qualcomm have become their customers. In 2017, TSMC's market value exceeded one trillion , successfully surpassing Intel to become the world's largest semiconductor company. In April 2022, its personal wealth reached US$2.7 billion.
Zhang Zhongmou in the business world is smooth sailing, and he is also a person who ignores the opinions of the outside world in terms of relationships.
In his seventies, marrying a beautiful wife
Compared with ordinary people, Zhang Zhongmou's marriage seems to be too late. At the age of 70, he is already an old man. The demand for love will be much weaker. However, 170-year-old Zhang Zhongmou started a beautiful marriage life. At this time, his wife was 57-year-old .
In 2001, he and his wife Zhang Shufen held a wedding in the United States with a smile. Although not many people were invited, many people were still present due to Zhang Zhongmou's identity and status.
During this wedding, many people recognized Zhang Shufen as the wife of Zhang Zhongmou's subordinate. They looked at each other for a moment, but didn't know what to say. After all, it is not clear whether Zhang Zhongmou robs his wife with his subordinates through his own relationship and wealth or waits for the two to divorce before intervening in . The outside world is full of gossip, and many people even doubt Zhang Zhongmou's character and morality, because no matter how you look at this matter, his subordinates are all "victims", but Zhang Zhongmou has never responded to these remarks.
A few years after his marriage with his wife, Zhang Zhongmou retired from TSMC and lived a life of idle clouds and wild cranes. But the financial crisis in 2008 once again pulled him out. Under his leadership, TSMC's market value exceeded 21 trillion yuan in just one year. It has been ten years since it sat in this position. Of course, it is its existence that can stand firm in the semiconductor industry.
Zhang Zhongmou is now 91 years old, and he has long delegated his power to start a retirement life. Looking back on the old man’s life, it is not difficult to see that he is very capable and proud and arrogant. When he was fifty-six, many people were enjoying their grandchildren, and when he was 70, he enjoyed his life. For Zhang Zhongmou, this seemed to be the beginning of his life. He was busy starting a business and getting married, and in the end he achieved success.
Looking at the success of many bigwigs, they basically started their own businesses after they were forties and fifties. There were twists and turns in the process, but they all gritted their teeth and persevered. In real life, many ordinary people also want to start a business, but they are afraid of tigers and and then are afraid of wolves. Sometimes they are worried about their age and sometimes they are worried about no business opportunities. However, the experience of these successful people will tell you that as long as you have set your goals, don’t be afraid of sarcasm from the outside world.
