Morris Chang

The founder, chairman and CEO of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. Chang began his career with Texas Instruments, where he worked for 25 years, rising to the position of group vice president responsible for worldwide semiconductor business.

Chang became president and COO of General Instrument Corporation in 1984, then left to head Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute and develop Taiwan's semiconductor industry. This experience led him to start his own company in 1987, the world's first and largest dedicated silicon foundry called Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company.

Born in Shanghai in 1931, Chang came to the United States in 1949. He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Stanford. His numerous awards include several honorary doctorates.