How Philips Helped Get TSMC Off the Ground

Nearly 400 years ago, the Dutch East India Company landed on the island of Formosa and set up shop. They hunted deer, grew rice, and fought the aborigines. In 1662, the Ming loyalist Koxinga besieged the now-tourist spot of Fort Zeelandia, ejected the Dutch, and established the anti-Qing Kingdom of Formosa.

I am not quite sure why I brought this up except to say that the Dutch have had long ties to Formosa. These ties continue to today with Taiwan and the Netherlands having consistently collaborated in the electronics industry.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, TSMC, is today the world's leading independent foundry. But they would have never even gotten started without the help received from Dutch multinational Philips in those critical early years. This video is about that shared history.

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[Asianometry]

Did you enjoy watching this little video? If so, consider liking and subscribing to the channel for more tech analysis and insights out of Asia.

[cbrtdgh]

To be honest, a lot of what I hear about Asia and tech in videos like Polymatter, I already know, having lived in China since 2016. Your videos are truly a treasure trove of new information for me.

[hypercomms]

Thank you. I used to work for Philips Scientific and Industrial selling test equipment 30 years ago. I still have found memories. I am glad companies are driven by other qualities than just profit.

[jase]

John, thank you for another brilliant video . Philips has a very interesting history indeed . A lot of people remember the old Sony Walkman but Philips was actually the developer of the cassette tape . Philips was also a major player with LG in flat screen tv technology. They had their fingers in every pie !

[aussiestallion]

Fabulous history and your research is brilliant.

[maestrovso]

Thank you so much for this excellent chapter of hightech history. This is a relatively unknown relationship between Philips and TSMC. I know Philips history quite well that it was once the archrival of Sony during its golden era. Over the last few decades Philips had retreated from many sectors including CE, semiconductor components, and test and measurement equipment. Now it has nothing more than medical equipment division.

[joey]

I never knew this despite being very familiar with both Philips and TSMC. Very good video.

[ev]

Thanks for your excellent tribute.

Some parts of (industrial) history Needs to be remembered also in Asia.

The name of Philips has been removed from the Wikipedia page of TSMC.

[anv.]

Appreciated your contribution and competence. Thanks

[ANG-MO-KOW]

This was really interesting :), lately i have been finding a lot of shared history with my country (NL) and TW. But i had no idea about PHILIPS influence in TW. Thanks for making these videos!!!

[adoteq_]

This is one of the ways, that make dutch influence great.

[kamaruleffendi]

A fab in malaysia called Silterra lost usd2.5billion in 20 years but just recently made a little profit. Can you talk about semicon industry in Malaysia

[inomo]

The machine in shown on 9:05 is not an EUV scanner (NXE). That's an immersion scanner (NXT).

[larryteslaspacexboringlawr]

thank you for awesome video and posted on reddit

[vanhovesingularity]

You forget another Phillips daughter company, FEI, who build electron microscopes used by TSMC to troubleshoot their process and reach yield! All those proud Dutch engineers are coming to retirement age now...

[zaneenaz]

Fascinating how hard work, patriotic fervor and struggle for performance made TSMC so successful ... hope it can continue. The concentration effect of the last few decades has certainly contributed in separating winners from losers. The arc that befell Philips seems very similar to that of Motorola - loosing focus or conflicting struggles or both ?
The next chapter will be interesting.

[javiertrevino]

Thank you you're helping me understand tsmc so I can invest in their stocks

[LeleSocho]

a teeny tiny correction: the company Nikon is pronounced "nee-kon" and not "naikon" as the japanese ニコン can only be read that way

[shazmosushi]

4:55 It's probably worth doing a video on KT Li. He seems like a key politician in Taiwan's economic success. I'll go have a read of his Wikipedia page.

[pingwong]

Wholesome relationships always bear fruit in the end