Morris Chang

SAM YEH/AFP/Getty Images

Morris Chang

TSMC chairman
Born: 1931, China
Now lives in Taiwan


Known as the father of Taiwan's chip industry, Chang grew up in China but left for the U.S. during the Chinese civil war in the late 1940s. He received bachelor's and master's degrees from MIT and a PhD from Stanford, worked at Texas Instruments for 25 years, and became a U.S. citizen before moving to Taiwan to launch Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. (TSM) in 1987. Since then, he has built the company into the world's largest foundry, or made-to-order chip manufacturer.