Morris Chang

Overview

Morris Chang

native name	張忠謀
native name lang	zh-Hant-TW
birth name	Chang Chung-mou
birth date	July 10, 1931
birth place	Ningbo, Chekiang, China
title	Founder and CEO of TSMC (1987–2005) Chairman of TSMC (1987–2018) President and COO of General Instrument (1984–1985)
education	Harvard University Technology (BS, MS, ME) Stanford University (PhD)
spouse	Christine Chen (m. 1952-1991) Sophie Chang (m. 2001)
awards	IEEE Robert N. Noyce Medal (2000) Nikkei Asia Prize (2005) IEEE Medal of Honor (2011) Order of Propitious Clouds (2018) Order of Dr. Sun Yat-sen (2024)

Morris Chang Chung-mou[1] (born July 10, 1931) is a Taiwanese[2] billionaire business executive and electrical engineer. He is the founder of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and was the company's chief executive officer (CEO) from 1987 to 2005, and its chairman until 2018.[3] As of April 2026, Forbes estimates his net worth at US$8.5 billion.[4]

Born in China, Chang lived in Hong Kong and immigrated to the United States. After attending Harvard University, he graduated with three degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and earned his doctorate from Stanford University in 1964. He began his career as a semiconductor engineer first at Sylvania Electric Products, then Texas Instruments, and, in 1984, became the president and

Early life

Chang was born in Ningbo, Chekiang, on July 10, 1931,[6] to a middle-class Chinese family. His father, Chang Wei-kuan (1906–1992), was a graduate of East China Normal University (then Kwang Hua University) who received a Western education.

When he was young, Chang wanted to become a novelist or journalist, but his father persuaded him otherwise.[7] Wei-kuan was an official in charge of finance for the Yin county government and later a bank manager.[8] Due to the senior Chang's career and the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945), the Chang family moved to Nanjing, then to Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Chongqing, and Shanghai.[8]

Chang spent most of his primary school years in British Hong Kong between the ages of six and eleven. In 1941, due to the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, Chang's family returned to Shanghai and Ningbo to live for a few months, eventually making their way to the wartime capital of Chongqing. In 1948, as China was in the height of the Chinese Civil War, Chang again moved to Hong Kong.[8]

Education in the United States

After high school, Chang decided to pursue engineering; because there were no universities dedicated to science or technology in Hong Kong, his father arranged for him to attend college in the United States. Chang Ssu‑hou (張思侯), Chang's uncle and a professor at Northeastern University, assisted him in applying to Harvard University, where he was admitted. In July 1949, Chang enrolled at Harvard College, where he was the only Chinese student out of its 1,100 undergraduates and placed in the top ten percent of the class his freshman year.[9] He majored in applied physics and engineering sciences, but, in order to gain better career prospects in engineering, transferred to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in his sophomore year.[7]

To defray tuition expenses, Chang won a scholarship at MIT and worked as a copy typist and research assistant under MIT professor Joseph Kaye. He took on the university's maximum course load and stayed during the summer to attend summer classes, finishing his undergraduate degree in two years instead of the expected three. He graduated from MIT with a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering in 1952, a Master of Science in 1953, and a Master of Engineering (M.E.) in 1955.[10]

Morris Chang

Early life

Education in the United States

Career

Taiwan

Personal life

Affiliations

Honorary doctorates

Awards and recognitions

Authored books

See also

External links

References