Former Minister of Science and Technology Chen Liangji held a new book sharing session to review his thoughts on joining the Cabinet and TSMC’s key decisions in building factories

Former Minister of Science and Technology Chen Liangji (centre) held a new book sharing session on the 6th. (Central News Agency)

[Central News Agency] Former Science and Technology Minister Chen Liangji held a new book sharing session today to review his four years of joining the cabinet. He said that with the ideals and conscience of intellectuals, he successfully proved in the political arena that ideals and reality can be both, and he once resolved the crisis of TSMC's 3 nanometer factory exodus. He hopes to use this book to convey to readers the concept of accumulating failures to achieve miracles. Former Executive Dean Lin Quan also attended the meeting.

Former Minister of Science and Technology Chen Liangji held a new book sharing session on "Only Accumulation Can Miracles" at the National Taiwan University Conference Center today. Former Executive President Lin Quan, Director of the Industrial Development Administration of the Ministry of Economic Affairs Qiu Qiuhui, Chairman of Pegatron Tong Zixian, General Manager of Taiwan Mobile University Lin Zhichen, Secretary-General of the All-China Federation of Industry Lu Zhenghua, Chairman of the Taiwan Local Creation Foundation Chen Meiling and others attended the meeting. The venue was full.

Chen Liangji said that during the more than 200 weeks of his four years in office, he wrote to colleagues every week, hoping to share his ideals and achieve goals with his partners as soon as possible during his term. After leaving public service, I deeply felt that Taiwan's development was not a matter of course, but the result of the efforts of everyone at many critical moments. In order to pass on this set of thinking, I completed some chapters in the ward, hoping to record the insights of these four years as soon as possible.

Chen Liangji mentioned that although his father had told him not to get involved in politics, he was very grateful for the four years of training in the political arena. With the ideals and conscience of an intellectual, he proved that ideals and reality can be reconciled in the complex political arena.

In response to reports at the end of 2016 that TSMC's 3-nanometer fab was considering leaving the country to set up factories overseas, Chen Liang-kee, who was appointed Minister of Science and Technology at that time, recalled that he invited the directors of three science parks to a meeting to clarify that he had not been hinted to stop developing science parks. Afterwards, he communicated with then-Executive President Lin Quan, hoping that Lin Quan would announce in public the importance of science parks to Taiwan's future. It was because of Lin Quan's support that the follow-up work could be smoothly promoted.

Lin Quan also appeared at the new book launch event and delivered a speech, saying that Chen Liangji's experience and experience are similar to his, spanning industry, government and academia, including teaching at National Taiwan University and serving in the same cabinet. He was the chairman of World Advanced and Chen Liangji was an independent director of the company. Therefore, everything Chen Liangji did resonated greatly with him.

Lin Quan said that Chen Liangji was full of fighting spirit and energy, and could always proactively propose plans and convince him. This strong sense of mission made him believe that he must support Chen Liangji. Moreover, Chen Liangji has a broad vision. He not only focuses on the immediate affairs, but also cares about the country and society, allocates resources accurately, and takes a solid step every step. This enthusiasm and contribution are admirable, and people are looking forward to his next plan after publishing the book.

Qiu Qiuhui served in the Ministry of Science and Technology at the same time as Chen Liangji, and served as the director of the Industry, Education and Park Business Department of the Ministry of Science and Technology. He said that at that time, Chen Liangji's nicknames were "Brother Ji" and "Chi Chang", which were used to describe Chen Liangji's foresight and leading Taiwan's development in the front-end direction. When AI was not popularized, Chen Liangji led the construction of the National Grid Center of the National Academia Sinica, promoted the price creation plan, etc., and showed coordination and wisdom in TSMC's 3-nanometer project to ensure that key industries remained in Taiwan.

In his speech, Tong Zixian mentioned that when Chen Liangji retained TSMC's 3nm technology, it was during the first term of US President Trump. If the 3nm factory went to the United States at that time, future processes more advanced than 3nm may not be able to successfully stay in Taiwan.

Tong Zixian said that Chen Liangji was appointed as the Minister of Science and Technology at the critical moment and promoted two miracles, including personally going to the countryside to communicate with residents and tracking the progress of TSMC's factory construction with Lin Quan every month. Another miracle was that he foresaw the rise of AI in 2017, thereby persuading then-TSMC Chairman Zhang Zhongmou to keep 3-nanometer technology in Taiwan.

In addition, Chen Liangji also mentioned in the book that when he met with Zhang Zhongmou in 2017, he mentioned that in the future, AI will definitely require technology below 3 nanometers, and the explosion rate is quite fast. If TSMC is too late to build the factory, it may lose a great opportunity; if TSMC starts elsewhere, the speed of building the factory will definitely be delayed by 1 to 2 years. If it can stay in Taiwan, it will definitely catch up with the future AI trend and consolidate the global market.