Morris Chang's book reveals he once asked Jensen Huang to lead TSMC

Taipei, Nov. 8 (CNA) Morris Chang (張忠謀), the founder of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), once asked Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) if he wanted to be CEO of the contract chipmaker, according to the publisher of Chang's autobiography.

With the second volume of Chang's Chinese-language autobiography set to hit the shelves on Nov. 29, the publisher of the highly anticipated book, Global Views - Commonwealth Publishing Group, revealed the table of contents on Wednesday, featuring one particular chapter that drew the attention of many.

Chapter 34, "Plans for Passing the Torch," includes a section sub-titled "consulting Jensen Huang about his interest in the TSMC's CEO position in 2013."

Some other sub-titles from that final chapter suggested that Chang began planning who would succeed him in 2005. He later appointed three co-COOs, Mark Liu (劉德音), C.C. Wei (魏哲家), and Chiang Shang-Yi (蔣尚義) in 2012, a year before his consultation with Huang.

Huang -- dubbed by many in Taiwan as "the godfather of AI" -- did not take up the role of heading the world's largest contract chipmaker in 2013 but continued leading Nvidia to prominence in the artificial intelligence (AI) and tech industry in recent years.

The company became the first to achieve a market capitalization exceeding US$3.6 trillion on Thursday.

Amid the current AI boom, Nvidia and TSMC collaborate closely, each playing a critical role in the supply chain: Nvidia leads in AI innovation and GPU development, while TSMC provides the advanced semiconductor manufacturing essential for bringing Nvidia's cutting-edge technology to life.

The founders of the two companies, 93-year-old Chang and 61-year-old Huang, have shared a long-standing friendship, with the Taiwan-born Huang often dining with Chang and his wife, Sophie Chang (張淑芬), during his visits to Taiwan.

When Huang visited Taiwan in late May this year, he took Chang to a local night market, which was Chang's first-ever night market experience.

In addition, when Morris Chang became the first laureate of the "K. T. Li Award" in November 2023, Huang made a surprise appearance at the award ceremony in Taipei to congratulate Chang in person.

In a post-ceremony press interview, Huang said that he has known Chang for "a quarter of a century," adding, "Without Morris and TSMC, there would be no Nvidia."

According to the publisher, the second volume of Chang's autobiography will cover his career from when he worked at Texas Instruments in 1964 to his retirement from TSMC in 2018 and is nearly 200,000 words.

The first volume, published in 2018, chronicles his life from 1931 to 1964 and is nearly 100,000 words.