> Chang’s immense success with TSMC looks obvious only in hindsight; nobody at the time [...] saw it that way.
That's fair but we can also recognize the pattern! We are now familiar with this one. Chang had noticed the need for fabs as a service to all. And he further noticed that it was at the intersection of others' needs: Taiwan looking for local industry, Philips looking for a local boost, established chips and design companies struggling to find the fab space they were ready to pay for, his ITRI mandate. There are no sure thing but we can see the good call and well done to put all the players together - that was plenty as grounds for a new business with good chances.
The other pattern we see is the manufacturing ladder, which has played out in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and now is underway in mainland China.
You can make a factory to make low end products. People copy you. Some employees bubble to the top, and can start making moderately decent products or quit to start on their own ideas. Eventually the low end stops being a good investment of money or people and it fizzles out in favor of luxury and specialty goods.
LG used to make the bottom shelf VCRs that you would find at Best Buy. The VCRs were branded Goldstar, the company Lucky Goldstar. When they went up market they rebranded to distance themselves from their bargain product lines. Now they have fridges that cost more than high end computers.
They may make best TV Panels, I would disagree they make best TV. That honour and title stills belongs to Sony. Although LG is getting close with image processing as seen in 2024 TVs.
That's fair but we can also recognize the pattern! We are now familiar with this one. Chang had noticed the need for fabs as a service to all. And he further noticed that it was at the intersection of others' needs: Taiwan looking for local industry, Philips looking for a local boost, established chips and design companies struggling to find the fab space they were ready to pay for, his ITRI mandate. There are no sure thing but we can see the good call and well done to put all the players together - that was plenty as grounds for a new business with good chances.