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Chang revealed offer in autobiography published on Friday

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Book also chronicles TSMC's dealings with major customers

By Wen-Yee Lee

TAIPEI, Nov 29 (Reuters) - TSMC's founder Morris Chang

asked Nvidia's ( NVDA ) Jensen Huang to consider becoming the chief

executive of the Taiwanese chip giant more than a decade ago,

but was turned down in just 10 minutes, Chang says in a new

volume of autobiography.

Huang, who has served as chief executive of the AI chipmaker

since founding the company, told Chang, "I already have a job,"

the 93-year-old recounted in the memoir, published on Friday,

that recounts his life from 1964 to 2018.

The second volume of Chang's autobiography covers his 25

years at Texas Instruments ( TXN ) and the founding of TSMC in 1987,

after the first, about his early life, was published in 1998.

The new volume recounts some of TSMC's dealings with major

customers such as Apple ( AAPL ) and Qualcomm ( QCOM ), as well

as how Intel ( INTC ) turned down an invitation to invest in

TSMC in the 1980s before becoming a key customer.

Chang also describes his friendship of more than two decades

with Huang, who has turned California-based Nvidia ( NVDA ) into one of

the world's most valuable companies amid a surge of interest in

artificial intelligence.

The two men have regularly praised each other in public over

the years, with Huang crediting Chang for Nvidia's ( NVDA ) success.

In the book, Chang said that while searching for a successor

in 2013, he viewed Huang as an ideal candidate because of his

character, professional experience, and semiconductor

expertise.

"I spent about 10 minutes concisely explaining my deep

expectations for TSMC," Chang recalled. He said Huang listened

patiently but responded, "I already have a job."

A few weeks later, Chang tried again, but Huang was

resolute.

"Jensen's response to me was honest: He 'already had a job!'

That job was to elevate Nvidia ( NVDA ) to what it is today, 11 years

later," wrote Chang.

Nvidia ( NVDA ) did not immediately respond to a request for comment

on Chang's book.

Chang added that when Huang was selecting a manufacturing

partner for Nvidia ( NVDA ), he was willing to bet everything on TSMC.

For its part, TSMC sent two production staff to help Nvidia ( NVDA )

in 1998 when the upcoming firm was short-staffed.

Chang also wrote that he approached Gordon Moore, then CEO

of Intel ( INTC ), when he was raising funds for TSMC in the 1980s.

The U.S. chipmaker did not invest, but later became one of

TSMC's customers, contracting to make its latest laptop chips.

Chang said Intel ( INTC ) CEO Pat Gelsigner had since 2021 set his

sights on turning the company into a foundry player.

While he wished the effort luck, Chang said Intel's ( INTC )

long-standing business model, focusing on the in-house

production of its own chip products, could make such a move

hard, given foundries makes chips designed by other companies.

Intel ( INTC ) did not immediately respond to a request for

comment.