Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) CEO C.C. Wei (pictured, right) consolidated his position at the top of the chipmaker, taking over as chair from Mark Liu and becoming the first executive to hold both roles since founder Morris Chang.

Nikkei Asia said Wei’s appointment as chair is part of a significant management reshuffle, which includes training a successor to take over as CEO.

Liu (pictured, left) resigned in December. He joined the chipmaker in 1993 and became chair in 2018 when Chang retired. At the same time Wei took over as CEO. 

Speculation in the industry suggested Liu was pushed to retire after work on a factory in Arizona ran into major delays and cost overruns.

Bullish
Wei’s appointment as chair was announced at the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting, where he reiterated its bullish outlook for 2024, Bloomberg reported.

Wei predicted in April revenue in Q2 would grow by up to 30 per cent year-on-year, driven by brisk demand for AI processors, following forecasting in January full-year revenue to increase 20 per cent to 25 per cent.

The contract chipmaker expects a strong recovery this year, following a period of weak demand which forced it to cut 2023 capex 16.3 per cent to $30.4 billion. Net income in Q4 fell 19.3 per cent to TWD238.7 billion ($7.4 billion), and revenue was flat at TWD625.5 billion.

Wei acknowledged in October 2023 the initial costs of operating overseas fabrication sites are higher than in its home market due to a number of factors.

The company is a key supplier to Nvidia and Apple.