Richard Chang: Taiwan's Silicon Invasion

In 1999, Richard Chang could have easily retired. He had just sold his fledgling Taiwan chip company to industry giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSM ) for $515 million. But Chang, who spent 20 years at Texas Instruments before starting his own business, wasn't ready to slow down. He saw a wealth of opportunity in the growing integration of the economies of Greater China. Now, tapping Taiwan expertise and drawing from the pool of skilled workers on the mainland, Chang wants to help China build a world-class chip industry. "We like to have [Taiwanese and mainlanders] work together," says Chang, 54. "We can complement each other."

Chang is betting that his team will learn quickly. His Shanghai-based Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) opened its first chipmaking plant last year, and it is launching a second in December--with plans to build a third, in Beijing, in a few years. All told, Chang has raised more than $1.5 billion from a roster of investors that includes Goldman Sachs (GS ), H&Q Asia Pacific, and Toshiba (TOSBF ). Although the company is still a fraction of Taiwan Semiconductor's size, SMIC is the most advanced chipmaker in China today and has won big customers such as Fujitsu, and partnerships with Toshiba and Chartered Semiconductor (CHRTR ).