The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 10 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 0 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
Chang: TSMC matched Intel in technology and beat it in manufacturing in 2011
“Technology. At that time, we thought we were almost at par with Intel. Almost. In fact, I thought we were, I think I thought we were at par with Intel at that time. Manufacturing. I thought we were better than Intel. And customer trust. We thought that our cus…”
Chang: TSMC rejected IBM co-development deal that UMC accepted and regretted
“So we declined without having to think about it at all. We declined the IBM office. And IBM, in fact, was quite angry, you know. I mean, they thought we're still a small Taiwan backward place, you know. It's a Taiwan company, and they are going to pick IBM. So…”
Chang: TSMC fixed R&D spending at 8% of revenue through recessions
“So I almost just literally picked a number out ahead.
We've been running six or seven percent already.
So I said, oh, let's pick eight percent.
Okay.
Yeah.
Eight percent, regardless of
Whether there's a recession or not.
And it's just eight percent of revenue…”
Chang: I did not foresee how big smartphones would become for 28nm
“No, I didn't. Maybe the business development guy, I mean, that was another interesting story. Yeah, maybe he knew. Maybe he, or at least, I now hope and I, of course, hoped at that time, too, that he had a more detailed visibility than I did”
Chang: TSMC funded Apple ramp via debt and filled half their requested volume
“What we first did our financial planning and we decided not to cut dividend. We decided not to sell new stock. We decided to just borrow. And I mean, this was also with consultation with Goldman Sachs, you know, we chose following. How much? I looked at the nu…”
Chang: TSMC historically used six-month probations rather than layoffs
“Well, we never did that, you know. I mean, the worst we would do was to put them on, place them on probation for six months, and quite often, you know, at the end of the six months, everybody would go back to the, to his or his or her old job, and some of them…”
Chang: TSMC R&D could not develop two nodes concurrently in 2010
“The point is that back then, R&D did not have enough resources to do two notes at the same time. Later we did. Later we did.”
Chang: TSMC did not include Apple in 28nm capex expansion
“Because when we figured a very big market for 28 and therefore when we planned to increase vastly our capital spending, we didn't have Apple in mind. We didn't include Apple. Apple came strictly as a present surprise.”