9/21/2026 Bruce Adams
During The Grainger College of Engineering’s Weeks of Welcome events, an audience of more than 400 people gathered at Grainger Auditorium to see a documentary that showed how a politically isolated Pacific island nation, bereft of mineral resources, rose to dominate the microchip industry.
Written by Bruce Adams
During The Grainger College of Engineering’s Weeks of Welcome events, an audience of more than 400 people gathered at Grainger Auditorium to see a documentary that showed how a politically isolated Pacific island nation, bereft of mineral resources, rose to dominate the microchip industry.
A Chip Odyssey tells the story of Taiwan’s national emphasis on chips, beginning in a small breakfast shop in 1974, and the people who researched, built and developed the industry that powers the digital economy. Among others, the film spotlights two Grainger Engineering alumni: Jack Sun, senior vice president, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University in Taiwan, chief CTO and VP of R&D at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) (2006-2018) and director and senior director TSMC (1997-2006; and Chris Koopmans, president and chief operating officer of Marvell Technologies and Grainger Engineering Board of Visitors member.
“At Grainger Engineering, we have a heritage of discovery and deployment leading to breakthroughs in crucial technologies that have enriched our digital age,” said Dean Rashid Bashir. Bashir pointed to John Bardeen, the only person ever awarded two Nobel Prizes in Physics, his student Nick Holonyak, Jr., who invented the first visible-spectrum LED, Jack Kilby for trailblazing work with microchips; and CT Sah, who made pioneering contributions to solid-state electronics in MOS and biopolar technologies.
The launch of the new semester also saw a celebration of the endowment of the Russell D. Dupuis Directorship of the Holonyak Micro & Nanotechnology Laboratory.
“Generations of Grainger engineers have been building on their discoveries ever since,” Bashir said, introducing the film. “As we begin a new school year, viewing ‘A Chip Odyssey’ is an opportunity to learn how engineering know-how and entrepreneurial drive come together. We’re going to see a remarkable story.”
The movie shared personal stories of long hours at work, a surreptitious outing to an amusement park, and the sacrifices made by a small group of engineers who worked for RCA in the U.S. in 1976 under a technology licensing program – through which they gained technical skills and experience to bring home. In turn, the Taiwanese government and enterprises were poised to build an industry.
ECE professor Minjoo Lawrence Lee at the pre-screening reception.
Their opportunity arose when the humble digital watch hit the market in 1978, becoming the first example of a ubiquitous consumer product centered on a Taiwanese chip. Every consumer product needing microchips that followed – from calculators to DVD players to cameras, home computers, and cellphones – came to use ones made on the island.
Viewers stayed after the movie for a panel discussion featuring Professor Minjoo Lawrence Lee, Associate Professor Shaloo Rakheja, Associate Professor Qing Cao and Sun – who called in from Taiwan.
The panel discussion began with one question: was the Taiwanese decision to invest heavily in microchips a big, risky bet? Sun described the “very adverse circumstances” facing TSMC as it began operations in 1987. The company adopted a development-intensive, capital-intensive approach, believing it had “not many other” choices. In addition to keeping the cost of materials down, TSMC, he said, decided early on to pay “bonuses for good people.”
Collaboration between government, universities and enterprises produced “innovation, not just optimization,” Sun said. He expected that the same process will help TSMC and other Taiwanese firms use electricity more efficiently in manufacturing in years to come. Noting the different timelines between academic research and product development.
The panel discussed the opportunities and challenges facing Grainger Engineering students, agreeing that the flexible mindset and solid grounding in the fundamentals the college provides will serve students well in the rapidly changing technological landscape. They emphasized cross-disciplinary collaboration and creative thinking. Rakheja emphasized that “there’s no substitute for hard work.”
The audience included students, active and retired faculty and community members. They expressed their interest in the future of the microchip as it sits at the center of the global economy.
The discussion pivoted to the future of microchip technology. Lee said he would “make a bet on massive 2D integration.” One audience member asked about the limitations imposed by atomic dimensions and quantum effects on microchips. Such new frontiers of computing, Sun said, required a pragmatic, disciplined approach powered by the curiosity to go across fields and produce cross-domain innovation.
Dennis Yen-Feng Lei, Director General of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Chicago, and other members of the office attended a reception and the showing.
Grainger Engineering Affiliations
Qing Cao is a Grainger Engineering professor of materials science and is affiliated with electrical & computer engineering and chemistry.
Minjoo Lawrence Lee is a Grainger Engineering professor of electrical & computer engineering and is affiliated with materials science & engineering. Lee is director of the Holonyak Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory.
Shaloo Rakheja is a Grainger Engineering associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and is affiliated with the Coordinated Science Laboratory and Holonyak Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory.