Electronic watches, music cards, and the world-famous semiconductor industry in Taiwan now all originated from a breakfast meeting. In 1974, then Minister of Economic Affairs Yun-Suan Sun, Director General of Transportation and Communications Yu-Shu Kao, ITRI President Chao-Chen Wang, Telecommunication Laboratories Director Bao-Huang Kang, Executive Yuan Secretary-General Hua Fei, Director General of Telecommunications Hsien-Chi Fang, and Radio Corporation of America (RCA) Laboratories Director Wen-Yuan Pan met at a small breakfast shop and had a discussion that later gave birth to Taiwan’s semiconductor industry. After the meeting, Wen-Yuan Pan shut himself away in The Grand Hotel to draft the IC development project. Ding-Hua Hu, the then Deputy Director of ITRI’s Electronics Research and Service Organization, was the first member to join this project. In 1976, ITRI and RCA signed an IC technology transfer and licensing contract to officially introduce semiconductor technology into Taiwan.

The first group of trainees at RCA included 19 experts. Ding-Yuan Yang led the New Jersey State team with members Jin-Ming Shieh, Ming-Kai Tsai, Shi-Te Lin, and Guo-Zhao Wang to study IC design. Chintay Shih led the Ohio State team with members F.C. Tseng, Ying-Da Liu, Qi-Liang Ni, Robert Tsao, Pi-Wan Chen, Bao-Tung Dai, and Lo-Hou Chew to study the manufacturing processes. Ching-Chu Chang led the California State team with members Kai-Liang Shieh and Shyue-Yun Wan to study verification procedures. Jian Xu and his team Heng Lin and Hyley H. Huang studied equipment in Florida. Upon returning to Taiwan, they brought their knowledge to a demo factory, pioneering Taiwan’s semiconductor industry. In 1977, the IC demo factory was completed and Taiwan launched its first IC production line. After six months of operations, it reached a higher-than-expected yield rate of 70%, which surpassed the 50% yield rate of the original RCA plant. In 1978, the first batch of Taiwan-made IC for electronic watches was completed. This accomplishment not only made Taiwan the world’s third-largest electronic watch exporter at the time, but also laid down a strong foundation for Taiwan’s semiconductor industry.