Chip War
The beginning of China’s semiconductor industry
In 1987, two very different dreams were born in Asia. In Taiwan, Morris Chang set his sights on building a company called TSMC that would manufacture the world’s best chips. At the same time, in Shenzhen, China, Ren Zhengfei founded Huawei—a small business that purchased cheap telecom equipment from Hong Kong and sold it in the Chinese market.
Computer chip: Bonafide hero of Gulf War
US F-117 bombers took off silently from an air base in Saudi Arabia at the dawn of January 17, 1991. The target was Baghdad.
Rise of Korea: Enemy's enemy is an ally
Lee Byung-chul was an individual with natural, innate traits for entrepreneurship. He had a magical aura in dealing with business— he was successful in whatever business he took up. In 1938, when the drums of war were rolling out all around, and Korea was under Japanese rule and at war with China, he started his dream company, Samsung.
Intel's turnaround: Where fear becomes motivation
Intel President Andy Grove was a dynamic individual and he had true stories of hard work. He was a refugee from Hungary who had fled the Soviets and the Nazis. Timidity and discipline were his main mantras in running a business. In his famous book 'Only the Paranoid Survive', he wrote: "Fear of competition, fear of bankruptcy, and fear of failure - these are powerful motivators for people to move forward."
Semiconductor war with Japan: Silicon Valley's uphill task
AMD CEO Jerry Sanders entered the chip business belligerently, especially against his old rival Intel. But in the 1980s, instead of Intel, Japan became his new and even more formidable rival.
Intel's revolutionaries: A new age of silicon
In 1968, student protests in Berkeley and communist unrest in Beijing shook the world. Meanwhile, the Palo Alto Times published a small but groundbreaking piece of news titled "Founders leave Fairchild: Build their electronics company."
Rise of global chip industry and low-wage transistor girls
Female workers in Asia played an extraordinary role in the chip-making revolution from the beginning of the modern semiconductor industry. Although mainly men were working on the design of transistors, a group of skilled hands was needed to transform the designed chips into real products that would be fast, accurate, and low-budget. Women filled this gap, especially women workers on assembly lines.