Strait Forward

Building advanced semiconductor foundries — and serving as the world’s trusted semiconductor supply chain capital — requires far more than purchasing multi-million-dollar lithography equipment. It also requires a fundamental alignment between a company’s business strategy, structural architecture, and organizational culture.

In the last episode of a three-part Strait Forward miniseries on why Taiwan did not steal America’s chip industry, host Channing Lee speaks with Dr. Konrad Young, a former Director for Research and Development (R&D) at TSMC, to discuss the secret sauce behind Taiwan’s semiconductor industry — and why Taiwan’s partnership with American tech firms has been the key to both countries’ technological successes.

00:00:09:16 — Introduction

00:02:20:11 — Dr. Young's Early Career

00:04:24:23 — Origins of Taiwan's Semiconductor Industry

00:05:31:06 — Taiwanese Talent Pipeline Through US Universities

00:07:40:05 — The Fabless/Foundry Split

00:10:34:14 — Why TSMC Chose the Foundry Model Over the IDM

00:12:57:14 — TSMC's Difficult Early Years

00:17:16:14 — Cultural Conflict Between Manufacturing Discipline and R&D Creativity

00:20:46:03 — The Financial/ROI Advantage of the Foundry Model vs. the IDM Model

00:23:51:10 — Development of the 0.13 Micron Process

00:27:14:22 — TSMC's Dominance in Foundry

00:28:04:05 — Culture of Foundry Work vs. Big-Country "King" Mentality

00:32:02:00 — How the AI boom is reshaping demand and TSMC's business

00:34:28:03 — AI and Automation's Potential Impact on Manufacturing Labor

00:38:34:18 — Why Dr. Young Chose to Return to Taiwan from the US

00:41:10:16 — Building TSMC's Unique R&D Culture

00:43:08:12 — Working Under Morris Chang and TSMC's Cultural Legacy

00:46:22:21 — Taiwan Recommendation

Strait Forward is a podcast by the Special Competitive Studies Project.

Political rhetoric often relies on simple villains, and few narratives are as convenient — or as fundamentally flawed — as the claim that Taiwan "stole" America's semiconductor industry. In this second episode of Strait Forward's three-part miniseries, host Channing Lee continues debunking this myth by examining the institution at the heart of Taiwan's chip story: the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI). 

Channing sits down with Stephen Su, Senior Vice President at ITRI, to trace how a single 1974 breakfast meeting between Taiwanese officials led to a pivotal technology licensing agreement with RCA — bringing 36 researchers to the US for a year of training that would seed Taiwan's entire semiconductor foundry industry. Su walks through how ITRI incubated both UMC and TSMC as spinoff companies, and explains why he attributes only a small fraction of Taiwan's success to luck — the rest coming from decades of sustained hard work once that initial opportunity was in place. 

The conversation also explores TSMC's deeply global supplier ecosystem, ITRI's ongoing research partnerships with US universities like Stanford, Berkeley, CMU, and MIT, and Su's framework for understanding Taiwan's evolving role — from "Made in Taiwan," to "Made by Taiwan" overseas, to what he argues must become "Made with Taiwan": a model of deep international partnership essential not just for semiconductors, but for the future of AI and quantum computing. 

 

Strait Forward is a podcast by the Special Competitive Studies Project.

Political rhetoric often relies on simple villains, and few narratives are as convenient — or as fundamentally flawed — as the claim that Taiwan "stole" America’s semiconductor industry. In a new three-part miniseries of Strait Forward, host Channing Lee seeks to debunk this myth by examining how and why Taiwan built its chip industry, and how Taiwan’s emergence as a manufacturing powerhouse enabled America to unleash its innovation power.

This first episode featuring Dr. Roy Lee, formerly Taiwan's Representative to the EU and Belgium and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, explores the geopolitical and economic conditions that created the urgency — and opportunity — for Taiwan to become the world’s chip hub. Contrary to the narrative of theft, Taiwan’s semiconductor success resulted from a deliberate, 45-year strategic partnership built on mutual survival, risk-taking, and shared security imperatives between Washington and Taipei.

Strait Forward is a podcast by the Special Competitive Studies Project.

China's military is testing Taiwan in new ways — fewer dramatic air incursions, and far more Coast Guard ships crowding Taiwan's waters in a slow, deliberate squeeze. In this episode, host Channing Lee sits down in the Strait Forward studio with Dr. I-Chung Lai, President of the Prospect Foundation, to assess how Taiwan reads the readiness of the People's Liberation Army to conduct an operation around the island. They dig into whether Beijing has the capability for a full-scale invasion, why a blockade or quarantine may be the more realistic threat, what China might be learning from conflict in the Middle East, and how gray-zone tactics are reshaping the fight across the strait. Lai closes on a hopeful note: a Taiwan growing more economically confident and more sure of its own ability to defend itself.

Strait Forward is a podcast by the Special Competitive Studies Project.

It's Taiwan's most famous export in a cup, but behind every chewy tapioca pearl is a global business story of culture, competition, and surprising technology. In this episode, host Channing Lee talks about all things boba with Greg Chen, CEO of International Business and Chief Investment Officer for the group behind Sharetea and Unique Green (UG) Tea, two of Taiwan's biggest bubble tea brands. They cover where boba came from, how the drink became a worldwide phenomenon and a symbol of Taiwanese culture, why Chinese chains flooding the market pose a growing competitive threat, and how AI-powered machines are helping stores leap from 100 cups a day to thousands. Producer Bobby Owens also tries boba for the very first time.

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Strait Forward is a podcast by the Special Competitive Studies Project.