[Exclusive] TSMC Founder: "Yoon's Impeachment Controversy Negatively Affects Samsung Semiconductor"

Maurice Chang Reveals at Autobiography Publication Press Conference
"Intel's Issue is Strategy, Samsung's is Technology"

Morris Chang, the founder of Taiwanese semiconductor foundry company TSMC, pointed out that the issues faced by Samsung Electronics and Intel lie in technology and strategy, respectively. He also predicted that Samsung might be negatively affected by the political turmoil in South Korea.

Maurice Chang, founder of TSMC, is speaking at the press conference commemorating the publication of his autobiography held on the 9th. Photo by Reuters Yonhap News

According to Taiwanese media on the 10th, Chang shared his views in response to questions about Samsung and Intel, which have fallen behind in competition with TSMC, during a press conference commemorating his autobiography held the day before.

Chang diagnosed, "Samsung is facing several technical problems." Taiwanese media interpreted this as a reference to Samsung’s pioneering adoption of the latest technology, Gate-All-Around (GAA), to get ahead of TSMC in competition, but struggling with yield issues.

Chang further explained, "Former Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee wanted to enter the memory business and suggested cooperation since he could not do it alone, but I thought it would not be good for TSMC to cooperate with Samsung, and I still think so."

He also said, "The current chaotic situation in South Korea could negatively impact Samsung’s management." He believed that President Yoon Suk-yeol’s declaration of martial law and impeachment controversies would affect semiconductor competition between South Korea and Taiwan. Due to this situation, the semiconductor special law pushed by the ruling party and government is also facing difficulties in being passed.

Chang gave a more detailed evaluation of Intel. Unlike Samsung, he had a friendly relationship with Intel, but as Intel strengthened its foundry business, their relationship became awkward, and in the process, Intel declined, according to his interpretation.

Chang said, "Intel had strategic problems and now has no CEO. Probably, both problems will not be easy to solve." He mentioned that he was close friends with Intel founders Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce, of similar age, and they used to drink beer together in the early days of the business. However, after Pat Gelsinger became CEO, the relationship between TSMC and Intel became strained. Chang added, "If Intel’s board already has a strategy and then finds a CEO, the problem will be relatively simple." Conversely, if the opposite is true, finding a solution will be difficult.

He criticized, "I got the impression that former CEO Pat Gelsinger focused on foundry rather than artificial intelligence (AI)." Intel introduced the 'Gaudi' GPU to compete with Nvidia’s GPUs, but it is lagging behind competitor AMD and failing to achieve results in the AI field.

When asked if Intel sought his advice, he added, "I do not want to advise Intel, and they have not made such a request."

On this day, Chang also predicted that TSMC’s foundry dominance would continue. He emphasized, "TSMC has no competitors and will launch products for almost all AI semiconductor customers worldwide as scheduled."