Morris Chang, founder of TSMC, once delivered a speech entitled “New Talents in the New Century”: “We need reform, otherwise there will be a limit to growth, and if there is a shortage of talents, it is also the reason for the growth limit.” With the joint efforts of Former President of NCTU Wu Yanhua and former CTO of TSMC Sun Yuancheng, the two sides signed a cooperation agreement on May 20, 2013 and held an unveiling ceremony “Chiaotung University-TSMC Joint R&D Center” was officially established. The mission of this R&D center is to encourage more top Doctoral talents to engage in nanoelectronics-related research and overcome the challenges of transistor microfilm and heterogeneous material integration. Future planning and development will be: 1. Based on the research results used by TSMC, we will strengthen cooperative research and strive for research resources. 2. Continue to cultivate doctoral-level semiconductor talents 3. Cooperate with the government to encourage new industries, use the center as a platform to strive for government and TSMC resources, and create new entrepreneurial services.
NYCU-TSMC Research Center Scholarship
In 2013, NYCU and TSMC established the TSMC Joint R&D Center with the purpose of promoting forward-looking semiconductor technology-related research and cultivating semiconductor industry talents. In order to recruit outstanding students to participate in research projects and encourage high-level research, TSMC has established a scholarship system for university departments and assistants in master’s and doctoral research. From 2013 to 2021, TSMC’s joint R&D Center provided a total of NTD34.418 million yuan in scholarships, and a total of 364 students received scholarships.
TSMC PhD student scholarship
In order to encourage outstanding students to invest in semiconductor-related fields to pursue doctoral degrees, in order to promote the quality of key talents and R&D energy of Taiwan’s overall semiconductor industry, and continue to promote the development of advanced technologies. During the doctoral studies, the annual award is NT$500,000, and the award is limited to 5 years. Senior TSMC executives serve as industry teachers to help understand the stages and challenges of industry and technology development; during the school period, he will be arranged to TSMC for internship, and after graduation, he will be given priority after review, and those who perform well will enjoy differentiated salary treatment. Since 2020, TSMC has provided doctoral scholarships for three years, and a total of 15 students have received TSMC doctoral scholarships (annually/ 500,000 yuan, up to 5 years of scholarships).
International/ex situ training
The Center breaks the restrictions of the Ministry of Science and Technology that only students who publish papers can receive the overseas subsidy, regardless of the publication of the paper, they can apply for important foreign seminars such as IEDM and VLSI. In addition, funding is also provided for students to go abroad such as UCB and UCLA for ex-situ training. From 2013 to 2021, TSMC R&D Center will provide nearly NTD5.5 million yuan to send professors and students abroad to participate in international seminars and the University of Berkeley, Stanford University and Oxford University in the United Kingdom for one year of ex-situ training. Under the learning of different research fields and environments, it is of great help to stimulate students’ research ability and thinking logic.
TSMC participates in research programs for master’s and doctoral students
Since the establishment of TSMC in 2013, many outstanding graduate students have followed professors to conduct research every year, and so far 517 graduate students and 206 doctoral students have graduated from the R&D Center, and nearly 85% of them have held engineer positions at TSMC.
Win-win between industry and academia/ research publication and industrial chain knot
The industry asks questions, and the academics find answers to win-win goals. By pooling ideas and resources, industry and academia closely integrate with each other to share know-how, stimulate cutting-edge technologies, enhance the academic status of NYCU in the field of semiconductors, and consolidate the international competitiveness of Taiwan’s semiconductor industry. In terms of academic achievements and technological breakthroughs, TSMC Joint R&D Center has made significant progress and growth in international journal publications, IEDM, VLSI, and U.S. patent grants every year from 2013 to 2020.
Recreate three win-wins, enhance national competitiveness, and closely integrate industries with enterprises
The establishment of TSMC’s joint R&D center will strengthen the R&D capabilities of the academic and industry alliance teams. In the Intelligent Semiconductor Nanosystem Technology Research Center led by Academician Hu Chengming (Chief Technology CEO of Front Desk Accumulated Electricity and Inventor of FinFET Technology) and the School of Industry-University Innovation and Research led by Dean Sun Yuancheng (Chief Technology Chief and Vice President of R&D), Professor Chang Yi and Professor Tang Zhenhuan, under the cooperation of both sides, we strive to enhance the core competitiveness of China’s nanoelectronics technology and the top R&D of semiconductors, and make good use of the huge and rich resources provided by the R&D center and the government to develop key semiconductor technologies for the next decade. Become a semiconductor technology leader, enhance and cultivate key semiconductor technologies, accelerate the cultivation of more international industry elites with the concept of “co-creation” between industry and academia, build a World Cup-level top talent and research team, and become a leader in the global fierce semiconductor competition.