HSINCHU, Taiwan -- The founding chairman of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Morris Chang, revealed Saturday that Lee Kun-hee, chairman of TSMC's biggest rival, Samsung Electronics, tried to convince him to join the South Korean conglomerate in 1989.
"In 1989, Lee intended to poach me to work for Samsung during a breakfast meeting in Taipei," Chang recalled at a news conference on TSMC's annual employees' sports day. He added that Lee likely did not want Taiwan to build its own chip technologies or companies back then.
