January 25, 2021· 51 min

The Story of How TSMC Came to Dominate the World

Orality
Model
77%
Oral-dominant (speeches, podcasts, storytelling)

Speaker Breakdown

HostTracy Alloway(1,709 words)
M:27%
HostJoe Weisenthal(1,222 words)
M:28%
GuestTim Culpan(5,662 words)
M:27%

Oral Indicators

Agonistic48%
obviously, very, extremely
Engagement47%
you, our, your
Memory Aids100%
listen, so, like
Repetition100%
they (112x), really (69x), tsmc (67x)
Parallelism100%
So have you heard the story ab..., And I'm Tracy Alloway...., So, obviously, Tracy, we've be...
Sound Patterns42%
39 question(s), alliteration: "markets move", alliteration: "barclays brief"
Formulaic Phrases9%
at the end of the day, you know what, i mean

Literate Indicators

Hedging9%
maybe, somewhat, quite
Passive Voice6%
was founded, were vested, were rewarded
Abstract Nouns15%
investment, prescription, medication
Subordination6%
because, since, although
Sentence Length43%
Avg: 15.8 words/sentence
Word Complexity47%
investment, analyze, anticipate
Academic Markers0%
Impersonal Style53%
432 personal pronouns found
Descriptive Style100%
automatically, family, obviously

Description

In every conversation about computer chips, it always comes back to the dominant player: TSMC. Founded in the 1980s, it's far and away the biggest and most advanced manufacturer. And, as our guest points out, it's virtually impossible to find any piece of consumer tech hardware that Taiwan Semi hasn't touched in some way. On this episode, we speak with Tim Culpan, a Bloomberg Opinion columnist who has been reporting from Taipei for over 20 years, about how the company came to be, why it's so dominant, its geopolitical importance, and what could plausibly dislodge it. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.