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Short abstract:

This research reviews how technocrats and TAC transferred IC technology into Taiwan in the 1970s. With counterfactual analysis, we finds that TAC tried to embed the IC technology into Taiwan’s industrial context instead of regarding it as a scientific project, creating solid base for the future.

Long abstract:

Taiwanese government initiated technology transfer for IC technology in the 1970s, and this project, the RCA Project, set the foundation of Taiwan’s IC industries and led to the birth of many important IC companies, including UMC and TSMC. However. according to the archives left by Dr. Pan Wen-Yuan, who was the leader of Technological Advisory Committee (TAC), the way how Taiwan transferred IC technology could be other possibilities instead of building IC manufacturing power for consumer electronics. Could other approaches also lead to Taiwan’s critical position in the global IC industries? This research reviews the history of the RCA Project with counterfactual analysis to discuss what would happen to Taiwan’s IC industries if TAC and Taiwanese technocrats chose “the roads not taken.” This research focuses on three counterfactual analysis. First, if Taiwanese government did not launch the technology transfer, Taiwan’s local IC industries were too small to build IC manufacturing power, so they would rely on imported IC key components for decades, delaying or even killing the birth of professional foundry in Taiwan. Second, if Taiwanese government chose to transfer bipolar semiconductor technology for its Telecom Lab rather than C-MOS for consumer electronics industries, the transferred technology would be irrelevant to Taiwan’s existing industries losing dynamics for further development. Third, if Taiwanese government transferred IC technology for scientific researches only rather than building the demonstration factory and deriving UMC, ITRI could not launch VLSI Project which gave birth of TSMC and professional foundry.