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Macronix Founder: A Miracle the Company Made Was Built from Scratch
TAIPEI, Feb. 2, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — “I have always stressed that starting a business in the integrated circuit industry from scratch would be something quite challenging, but I made it happen,” said Macronix International Founder and CEO Miin Chyou Wu. “Almost all the well-known Taiwanese companies who have well-trained employees and top-notch manufacturing facilities were funded by the local government. Building up a company from nothing as I did, I think it is truly a miracle.” He added that it takes dedicated people, heavy investment, considerable time, and essential resources to start a business in the semiconductor sector.
Semiconductor projects are capital-intensive and often require investors’ long-term investment. It can cost billions of dollars to build a semiconductor fabrication plant, notably acquiring land and purchasing equipment. It also may take at least six to seven years for such facility to begin generating revenue. In 1989, the year Macronix was founded and Taiwan was just starting to focus on the semiconductor industry, it was not easy to find sufficient funding and qualified employees. Back then, several major semiconductor-manufacturing firms, including United Microelectronics and Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC), wouldn’t have survived without the support from the government or large consortia.
By bringing together 40 talented engineers from Silicon Valley and with NT$2.4 billion (approx. USD 137 million) in hand, Wu, then in his 40s, founded Macronix in Taiwan with dedication and enthusiasm. “At that time, I signed the first loan guarantee, and my life would have turned out very differently had I failed,” said Wu. He knew that starting a business was highly risky, but it was his vision of moving away from the reverse engineering mindset that had taken root in Taiwan that made him willing to take up the challenge.
Despite the lack of resources, Wu decided to buck the…
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