90-Year-Old TSMC Founder: Intel CEO too Old to Make the Chipmaker Great Again

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger has been taking swipes at TSMC almost consistently over the last few weeks. As part of the IDM 2.0 strategy, the chipmaker hopes to expand chip production on US soil to its pre-Ryzen glory. This requires persuading the Biden Gov to exclude Asian foundries from the US Chips Act and securing subsidies. In addition to this, Gelsinger has also called Taiwan (and TSMC) unsafe and a security risk for the supply chain predicting a possible Chinese incursion.

TSMC founder and ex-Chairman Morris Chang has returned the favor while talking to the Taiwanese edition of the United Daily News (UDN). When asked if Pat Gelsinger will be able to return Intel to its former greatness, Chang bluntly replied that his industry peer is already sixty years old, and won’t have enough time to achieve the lofty goal.

According to Intel’s internal rules, company executives are retired as soon as they hit the 65-year mark. This means that Gelsinger would normally have only five years to fulfill his promises. However, Intel has time and again flexed this rule in extraordinary cases. If Pat is able to show enough positive growth in the coming 4-5 years, he’s almost certainly going to get an extension.

Chang founded TSMC in 1987 and served as its CEO till 2005. He was recruited back to run the company as a top manager in mid-2009 amid the then raging international financial crisis. In 2018, he retired for good.