The famous Chinese founder and CEO of semiconductor companies

I’ll review Chinese founder and CEO of world top semiconductor companies as far as I know.

Overview

A large proportion of Chinese descent in world top chip companies

You know, maybe you haven’t noticed: among the leaders of the most important global semiconductor companies in recent years, there are many famous Chinese founders and CEOs. This is very different from other fields, such as the software industry (You can refer to my post of “Indians are the CEOs of 30% of the Fortune 500 listed companies in the United States“). I mean the proportion of Chinese in the global leaders in “world’s top” semiconductor field. Chinese are not just a minority; they are the leaders of the world’s largest semiconductor companies.

Why is the proportion from mainland China so low?

You may have discovered that, although they are all Chinese, in the semiconductor industry, at least “for now”, excluding mainland Chinese companies, the proportion of leaders of global semiconductor companies from mainland China is very low. This is totally disproportionate to the proportion of mainland China in the world’s population, the number of people studying semiconductor-related majors in the United States, and their intelligence level.

The reason is simple: those who can become leaders or CEOs of the world’s top semiconductor companies are at least in their fifties, and those listed in this article are almost all between their sixties and eighties.

If you think back, excluding the twenty years of growing up and studying, forty to fifty years ago, very few people of that generation in mainland China had the opportunity to study, and many smart people might have been buried in this way for their entire lives. It is only about 40 years since the reform and opening up of mainland China. It is only in the last 20 to 30 years that mainland China has been truly wealthy and able to send children to college.

Chip foundry

TSMC’s Morris Chang

Please notice that Morris Chang did not found TSMC, but he help to establish TSMC: “How was TSMC originally founded? Not by Morris Chang“

Morris Chang’s last position at Texas Instruments was as vice president in 1972. He left Texas Instruments because he encountered difficulties in career development at Texas Instruments. In 1983, he left Texas Instruments and joined General Instrument Company as chief operating officer.

It happened that the Taiwanese government at that time set industrial policies and needed to establish Taiwan’s own semiconductor industry. The Taiwanese government and Philips funded and assisted Morris Chang in establishing TSMC, specializing in semiconductor wafer manufacturing.

In 1985, at the invitation of Sun Yunxuan, he went to Taiwan to serve as the president of the ITRI (Industrial Technology Research Institute) and concurrently as the chairman of UMC.

On February 1, 1987, ITRI and Philips jointly established TSMC as chairman and CEO. In 1994, the world’s most advanced brand was founded. In 2005, he resigned as CEO of TSMC. Returned as CEO of TSMC in June 2009. He resigned from TSMC in June 2018 and officially retired.

Regarding Morris Chang, please see my post for a detailed introduction “How was TSMC originally founded? Not by Morris Chang“, “How did Morris Chang help to establish TSMC?” and “TSMC Morris Chang’s controversial words and deeds“

SMIC’s Mong-Song Liang

For details, please see my post of “Mong-Song Liang, the hero of SMIC’s breakthrough in US blockade” and “How is SMIC after US embargo?“

SMIC and Sien’s Richard Chang

Richard Chang is considered the true godfather of chip production in China. When he was young, he worked at Texas Instruments. In 1997, he decided to return to Taiwan to establish Vanguard International Semiconductor Corporation, which became the third largest wafer foundry at that time after TSMC and UMC. In 2000, without Richard Chang, the CEO of Vanguard International Semiconductor Corporation, knowing anything about it, under the leadership of the major shareholders, Vanguard International Semiconductor Corporation was sold to TSMC, which wanted to acquire it, for US$5 billion.

In 2000, Richard Chang went to mainland China to establish SMCI (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation) and aggressively recruited TSMC talents. Soon after, he was sued by TSMC in California for infringement of business secrets. After years of litigation, the two parties reached a settlement at the end of 2009. Richard Chang also resigned sadly.

In 2021, Richard Chang founded Sien Integrated Semiconductor in Qingdao, with a total investment of approximately RMB 21.8 billion. It is the first collaborative integrated circuit manufacturing (CIDM) in mainland China. It initially focused on 12-inch 40 to 28 nanometer ultra-low power products. Production of consumer logic and embedded and RF-SOI advanced chip products.

UMC’s Robert Tsao

Robert Tsao is a Taiwanese entrepreneur and the founder of United Microelectronics (ticker: UMC). In 1976, ITRI signed a technology transfer licensing contract with RCA and joined the RCA project. Robert Tsao and others went to the United States to learn semiconductor production technology. In 1980, Taiwan’s first integrated circuit company, UMC, was established. Robert Tsao was transferred to the CEO and chairman.

Later, after a series of development and mergers and acquisitions, UMC became the world’s second largest wafer foundry, and was often compared with the world’s largest TSMC; Robert Tsao and TSMC’s chairman Morris Chang were also known as Taiwan’s chip foundry duo. In 2005, UMC was searched by the District Prosecutor’s Office for violating the Taiwan government’s Mainland China investment regulations by indirectly investing in Hejian Technology, and was charged with breach of trust and violation of the “Commercial Accounting Act.” Robert Tsao resigned as chairman of UMC.

Chip design

Nvidia’s Jensen Huang

Jensen Huang was born in Tainan. When he was 9 years old, he took a flight to the United States with his 10-year-old brother. He received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Oregon State University in 1984 and a master’s degree from the Institute of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University in the United States in 1992.

After graduation, he joined AMD and became a chip design engineer. Two years later, he moved to LSI Logic, focuses on chip graphics processing. After working in the design department for two years at LSI Logic, he asked to be transferred to the sales department, and eventually became the general manager of the SoC integrated chip department.

At the same time, he also received a master’s degree from Stanford University and met two engineers from Sun Microsystems, Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem. Two engineers who had worked at Sun Microsystems, Chris and Praiam, brought Jensen Huang into Nvidia’s entrepreneurial team.

At the end of 1992, when he was 30 years old, they co-founded Nvidia, focusing on the video game industry market. Because of his technical background and understanding of sales and management, Jensen Huang was elected as president and CEO, two positions he has held to this day.

In 1999, Nvidia invented the graphics display chip. This invention defined modern computer graphics and brought changes to parallel computing and its scientific applications. At the same time, Nvidia also opened the door to the field of artificial intelligence, using GPUs to allow computers and robots to and self-driving cars. Over the past 25 years, Jensen Huang has led Nvidia to transform from a chip company focusing on the video game industry to the current high-performance computing chip company, and has gradually become one of the most important semiconductor companies in the world.

The U.S. Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) awarded Jensen Huang an award symbolizing the chip industry’s highest honor in 2021 to recognize his contribution to the semiconductor industry.

SIA President and CEO John Neuffer said in a statement: “Jensen Huang’s extraordinary vision and tireless execution have greatly strengthened our industry, revolutionized computing, and advanced artificial intelligence.” and “Jensen’s accomplishments have fueled countless innovations — from gaming to scientific computing to self-driving cars — and he continues to advance technologies that will transform our industry and the world. We’re pleased to recognize Jensen with the 2021 Robert N. Noyce Award for his many achievements in advancing semiconductor technology.”

Broadcom’s Tan Hock Eeng

Tan Hock Eeng is a Malaysian-born Chinese. He holds a PhD in mechanical engineering from MIT and a master’s degree in business administration from Harvard University. Therefore, in addition to having a background in science and engineering, Tan Hock Eeng is also familiar with financial management and business operations.

He successively worked as a financial executive at General Motors and PepsiCo. He then served as Managing Director of Hume Industrial Pacven Investment Company. In 1992, he moved to the personal computer manufacturer Commodore (acquired by Cavco Industries) as the company’s vice president. At this time, Tan Hock Eeng began to enter the technology industry.

In 1994, Tan Hock Eeng joined Integrated Circuit Systems and rose to the CEO position. Later, ICS was sold to Integrated Device Technology, and he joined IDT and served as chairman of the board of directors of IDT. Finally, in March 2006, Tan Hock Eeng served as the president of Avago (ticker: AVGO) until now.

In 2016, he led Avago Technologies to acquire Broadcom Technology for US$37 billion, and also acquired the communications giant Brocade, becoming the fifth largest semiconductor manufacturer in the world. In 2017, it attempted to acquire Qualcomm, which also attracted the attention of the world. For this merger, the global headquarters was moved to the United States, but in the end, Trump stopped the merger in March 2018 due to “national security considerations.”

For Tan Hock Eeng, please see my post of “Significant changes in Broadcom’s business approach” and “The reasons behind Broadcom share price consistantly outperformance“

Intel and Cadence’s Lip-Bu Tan

Lip-Bu Tan was the CEO of Cadence (ticker: CDNS), one of the world’s three largest semiconductor EDA suppliers in 2029. In addition, he also serves as a director of the Global Semiconductor Association (GSA), a director of the American Venture Capital Association, and an advisor to the dean of the MIT School of Engineering.

In 2023, he resigned as a director of Intel after having serious disagreements with the former Intel CEO over the future of the company. For the details of this past event, please see my post of “How bad is Intel right now?“

Unexpectedly, a year later, Kissinger was forced to resign by the board of directors, and Intel fell into a leaderless situation, and it was almost impossible to find someone qualified and suitable to succeed as CEO. On March 12, 2025, Intel appointed Lip-Bu Chen as its new CEO, hoping that his connections in the semiconductor industry, qualifications, and understanding of Intel could save the representative American semiconductor company from the biggest crisis since its founding.

Lip-Bu Tan was born in Malaysia. He holds a bachelor’s degree in science from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, a master’s degree in nuclear engineering from MIT, and an MBA from the University of San Francisco in the United States.

Chen Liwu is known as the “Godfather of Chip Venture Capital” in the semiconductor field, in recognition of his solid academic experience and career.

After graduation, Chen Liwu served as CEO of Cadence, a major EDA (electronic design automation) manufacturer, and accumulated practical experience in the chip industry. For a period of time after that, he tried to switch to the music industry and served as the vice president of Chappell, a long-established British music publisher and piano manufacturer.

In 1987, Chen Liwu, who was only 28 years old, became famous in one battle. He founded Walden International, a world-renowned venture capital company in San Francisco, focusing on early-stage technology investments.

Lip-Wu Tan has a certain influence by investing in the AI startup industry through his venture fund Walden International. Lip-Bu Tan is known as the godfather of venture capital in the semiconductor industry. As an engineer by training, he has built a large empire with his rich technical knowledge and precise business acumen.

To date, Walden International has invested in more than 60 projects, involving billions of yuan. The venture capital company has invested in more than 100 semiconductor-related companies such as SMIC, AMEC, and GigaDevice, covering subdivided areas of the semiconductor industry such as chip design, manufacturing, packaging and testing, equipment, and downstream system applications. It has become An important promoter of the global semiconductor industry.

In addition to the chip field, Walden International’s investment portfolio also includes well-known companies in other industries such as Sina, Skyworth, DJI, and Meituan.

For Lip-Bu Tan and Cadence, please see my posts of “How bad is Intel right now?” and “How does, the EDA oligopoly, Cadence make money?

AMD’s Lisa Su

Lisa Su, current CEO of AMD, was born in Tainan and was elected as a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering in 2018. Before joining Advanced Micro Devices (ticker: AMD) in 2012, Lisa Su held positions such as technical research, vice president of R&D and CTO in Texas Instruments, IBM, Freescale (acquired by NXP) and other companies. Since 2014, Lisa Su has served as the CEO of AMD.

Huawei HiSilicon’s Ren Zhengfei

HiSilicon is a chip design company under the Huawei Group. HiSilicon mainly designs related chips for various subsidiaries of the Huawei Group. Therefore, its business scope is very large, ranging from small consumer electronics chips to communication chips, automotive chips, even the most difficult mobile phone communication modems that only five companies in the world are capable of launching, artificial intelligence chips that Nvidia regards as its main competitors, server chips, and all chips for communication base station equipment in the telecommunications industry.

For Huawei and Ren Zhengfei, please see my post of “How does the all-powerful Huawei make money?“

Marvell’s Sehat Sutardja

Marvell Technology (ticker: MRVL) is an American chip manufacturer that specializes in manufacturing chips for storage, communications and consumer electronics products.

The company was co-founded in 1995 by Dr. Sehat Sutardja, an Indonesian Chinese, his wife Weili Dai, and his brother Zhou Xiuwu. It is headquartered in California, USA.

For Marvell, please see my post of “How low-key Marvell makes money?“

Semtech’s Hong Q. Hou

In June 2024, Hong Q. Hou took over as CEO and President of Semtech. Semtech(ticker: SMTC)’s main businesses include analog and mixed-signal semiconductors, advanced algorithms, high-performance semiconductors, IoT systems and connectivity services.

In January 2025, financial media revealed Semtech’s key victory in entering the AI data center network field, as Semtech CopperEdge has been introduced into Nvidia’s Blackwell platform, and Nvidia is working to launch similar fiber optic products in the second half of 2025.

MediaTek’s Ming-kai Tsai

MediaTek was established in Hsinchu Science Park in May 1997 as a subsidiary of UMC’s multimedia department. MediaTek’s initial main product was CD-ROM chipset.

Since 2000, it has invested in the research and development of wireless communication baseband and radio frequency chips, and in 2003, it has invested in the research and development of digital TV and LCD TV control chips.

In 2009, MediaTek signed a patent agreement with Qualcomm and signed a strategic cooperation memorandum with Aoshitong Technology to cooperate in the development of TD-SCDMA. In 2014, MediaTek developed and exhibited its first 4G LTE modem, MT6290.

Novatek’s Tai-Shun Ho

Novatek was established in Hsinchu Science Park in 1997. It was originally the commercial products division of UMC. Tai-Shun Ho led 120 people to establish Novatek Technology in 1997. Its main products in the early days were computer peripheral chip sets.

In 1999, Tai-Shun Ho decided to get involved in the LCD panel driver chip market. After 2000, he turned to LCD driver chips and system-level chips, which were used for keyboards and mice. The world’s largest supplier of keyboards and mice controllers.

Atheros’s Teresa Meng

In 1998, Taiwanese Teresa Meng resigned from Stanford University and founded T-Span Systems, a company focusing on wireless communication technology. In 2000, the name was changed to Atheros Communications, and the company was listed on the U.S. stock market in February 2004.

In January 2011, Qualcomm (ticker: QCOM) acquired Atheros. In 2007, Meng was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Engineering for pioneering the development of decentralized wireless network technology.

Xilinx’s Victor Peng

Victor Peng is a Taiwanese-American who joined Digital in 1982. From 1982 to 2008, he successively served as CEO of Silicon Graphics (acquired by Hewlett Packard Enterprise in 2016), MIPS Technology (ticker: MIPS), Tzero Technologies, and ATI (later acquired by AMD) ), AMD, etc., and joined Xilinix in 2008. In 2022, Xilinx returned to AMD after being acquired by AMD.

Semiconductor equipment

Lam Research’s David Lam

Lam Research (ticker: LRCX) was founded in 1980 by David K. Lam, a Chinese scientist and entrepreneur who was born in Saigon, Guangdong and grew up. It is headquartered in Fremont, California. The company’s name “Lam” means the surname of overseas Chinese in Vietnam, Lin.

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Andy Lin

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Author: Andy Lin

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