Taipei, Sep. 6 (CNA) In the era of knowledge-based economy, everyone should read and more importantly think to catch up with the changing times, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) Chairman Morris Chang said in a forum Wednesday.
"Knowledge is the basic requirement in a knowledge economy. Thinking is what creates ideas and leads to innovation and added-value, " Chang said hours after his arrival from San Francisco early Wednesday.
"Simply put, we can say that knowledge is not the key word in a knowledge economy; turning knowledge into interests -- or money -- is, " he explained, quoting Chinese philosopher and educator Confucius as saying: "To study and not think is a waste."
Delivering his speech to more than 500 people on the topic of corporate learning, Chang elaborated on three biggest changes during the last 20 years.
"Our society has been going through enormous changes with the impact of knowledge economy and globalization. It has created a winners' circle and, at the same time, a high unemployment rate of college graduates, " he said.
"Subjectification" of the emerging importance of business models is the second impact, Chang said.
"From Dell to Starbucks, from Amazon.com to eBay and Google, successful companies are now selling business models, not just their products, " he noted.
Lastly, the rise of China and India has sent shockwaves round the world, he said.
"In addition to the advocacy of lifetime reading and learning, we need to understand the importance of thinking as well. It is what keeps us in the winners' circle," Chang said.
TSMC, founded in 1987, is the world's largest dedicated semiconductor foundry. Its revenues represent some 50% of the global foundry market.