Following a series of scandals that have sent US companies such as Enron and WorldCom into bankruptcy, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC,
"I think this is a very significant step that [TSMC Chairman Morris Chang (張忠謀)] has put into position here," said Peter L. Bonfield, the chairman and CEO of British Telecom, and now a member of TSMC's board of directors. "It just shows he's got the drive that TSMC is going to be the best in its field"
Chang said during a press conference yesterday that the new directors, which also include Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Lester C. Thurow and Harvard Business School professor Michael E. Porter, will be part of a new audit committee designed to keep TSMC financial controllers on their toes.
The three new directors will be asked to help form the audit committee and critique company financial statements as well as keep tabs on internal operations and help direct TSMC's future. The audit committee will have between three and five members.
When asked if the failure of independent directors at Enron put into question the role of TSMC's new crew, Thurow said no.
"I think you're misreading it if you say that independent directors, in some sense, that the role has been colored by the scandal," he said.
"I think what the scandal said and what is coming out of the rules and regulations of the US government and the New York Stock Exchange, is you've got to have more independent directors and they've got to be more independent. The real problem at Enron is that none of them were really independent. They all, in one way or another, had become dependent on Enron," Thurow said.
Meanwhile, President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) call for a referendum on Taiwan's future and the angry response it drew from China will not change TSMC's plans across the Taiwan Strait.
"Setting up a chip plant in China is necessary. We intend to turn in an investment application and we will not change this plan."
The company will not let political tensions with Beijing get in the way of the company's business strategy, he said.
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