TSMC’s Morris Chang Says No to Apple, Qualcomm

Morris Chang, chairman and CEO of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), is no sellout. According to Bloomberg.com earlier this week, TSMC turned down billion-dollar investments from Apple and Qualcomm, each of whom wanted to be TSMC’s exclusive customer.

Having spent several hours talking with Chang last year, I could have told Apple or Qualcomm that their offer was a nonstarter. For one, Chang is big on loyalty. And going exclusive would have meant dumping long-term customers like Nvidia; TSMC does virtually all of NVidia’s manufacturing. Chang cares so much about his customers, Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang told me, that Chang showed up to visit Huang to sort out some questions about capacity in the middle of Chang’s honeymoon. [read more..]