BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : NOVEMBER 27, 2000 ISSUE
INTERNATIONAL -- ASIAN COVER STORY Chasing the Dream to Shanghai (int'l edition) Winston Wong's first idea was to build a chip-fabrication plant in the U.S. But his dream soured four years ago when this son of Taiwanese billionaire Y.C. Wang raised only $200 million--not nearly enough to proceed. Switching his focus to Asia, Wong turned to some friends in high places. In late November, Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. will break ground on a $1.6 billion fabrication plant in Shanghai. Wong is GSMC's president, and his chief business partner is Jiang Mianheng, son of Chinese President Jiang Zemin. Also backing the project are state-owned Chinese lenders such as the Bank of China, China Construction Bank, and China Commercial Bank. By mid-2002 GSMC should be producing 50,000 eight-inch wafers per month. OBJECTIONS. GSMC's target market is the growing number of Shanghai-based chip-design houses. Owing to the political problems between Beijing and Taipei, these designers do not use Taiwan foundries and are forced to look elsewhere. Yu Jun, vice-president of the Hong Kong-listed design house Shanghai Fudan Microelectronics Co., says the shortage of local foundry capacity is a big impediment to developing new products. ''We can't do chip sets because you need close relations with a foundry,'' says Yu. Wong plans to play a big part in that. ''We are going to bring up the whole electronics industry,'' he declares. But he must tread softly. Taiwan prohibits its citizens from investing in mainland chip fabs. And Wong says neither he nor his privately held Taiwan company, Grace THW Group, has put money into GSMC. ''GSMC has hired me as president'' he says. ''That's all.'' Still, Wong's involvement in the project has prompted objections in Taiwan--especially his close relations to Jiang Jr. Wong has had to deny the surprising allegation that he and Jiang helped Beijing fund the campaign of President Chen Shui-bian, in return for Chen's pledge to improve cross-Strait relations. And Wong defended Jiang to BUSINESS WEEK. ''He is very low-key and sincere,'' Wong says. ''He never thinks of his self-interest.'' Fending off wild accusations is nothing new to Wong. He left his family company, Formosa Plastics Corp., five years ago amid a storm of publicity surrounding an extramarital affair. Since then, he has contended with other accusations about his personal and business dealings. ''It's vicious,'' he says of the criticism. ''Totally ridiculous.'' Wong, however, will have to learn to live in the spotlight if he is going to achieve his dream of building China's premier chip foundry. By Bruce Einhorn in Taipei _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP					RELATED ITEMS Asia's Future (int'l edition) COVER IMAGE: Asia's Tech Future TABLE: The Tech Future Beyond the Lab (int'l edition) CHART: Startup Explosion The Chips Are Up (int'l edition) TABLE: Betting Big Chasing the Dream to Shanghai (int'l edition) Minds over Matter (int'l edition) CHART: Going, Going... A Biotech Hub (int'l edition) CHART: Genetic Express Rewriting the Rules (int'l edition) TABLE: Vietnam's IT Plan INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online

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