Some individual persons or groups may be well-known internationally, such as film director Ang Lee and the Cloud Gate Dance Theatre. But it is the semiconductor industry, which has been working hard for more than 40 years, that gives Taiwan world-class influence.
TSMC chairman Mark Liu has said that "TSMC has a structural advantage," meaning that TSMC is far ahead of its competitors in terms of process, customer structure, and ecosystem integration. This clearly tells us about TSMC's competitive advantage. But many people are not eager to learn from TSMC, and instead pay attention only to its stock price trends.
The high percentage of foreign ownerships in TSMC is not a problem for TSMC. I've never bought TSMC stock in my life. It's not that the company is poorly run; it's just that I'm not interested in investing in the stock market, though I encourage local investors to support quality companies.
Taiwan has the world's top semiconductor industry and supply chain, and the daily developments could be seen as world-class teaching materials.
Under the advancements of modern technology, many experts and scholars have developed many management concepts, and technology also brings new ideas. Modern people's knowledge and concepts will not be worse than the ancients, but Sun Tzu's Art of War could still be of use after 2,500 years: Its text of 6,000 words is the best concept for the formation of strategy.
If we compare the concepts of these technology entrepreneurs and the 2,500-year-old wisdom, we would see a different picture. Confucius says one had better pass on ancient wisdom without building one's own. There wouldn't be a better job than finding materials from the experience of the industry and do industrial research.
Politicians love the electronics industry, and countries are fighting for dominance in it. The salary levels in the IT industry are higher than others. And I'm hoping that the media industry can one day reach those levels.
If you ask me if I'm in the electronics or media industry, basically we are moving towards the electronics industry and there is a lot of hard work for us to do.
