One thing I learned is that TSMC is a sort of public/private partnership with the Taiwanese government. They put up 50% of the initial capital.
> David: 50% by the government and the other 50% were owned by the investors. Morris got nothing.
> Ben: And just got to keep his salary.
> David: He was a government employee.
> Ben: Wow.
> David: There by the grace of the government.
> Ben: Oh my God.
> David: Isn't that unbelievable? This is so the opposite of Silicon Valley.
> Ben: How is he worth $3 billion today?
> David: Well, what he did—as TSMC started to work—he basically put all of his money into buying. He bought his own shares in the company. I don't know if it was privately. They went public on the Taiwan Stock Exchange in 1994, and then the New York Stock Exchange in 1997. But yeah, he put basically all of his excess cash flow into buying TSMC shares.