news You are using an older browser version. Please use a supported version for the best MSN experience. SMIC appoints former TSMC R&D head as executive director, highlighting need for pragmatism amid push for home-grown tech Che Pan SMIC has been seen as China’s best shot to catch up with global peers like TSMC. Photo: EPA-EFE A boardroom shake-up at China's leading wafer foundry Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) could be an attempt to bring stability to a national chip champion trying to reduce the country's reliance on core US semiconductor technology. Chiang Shangyi, who spent nine years as head of research and development at Taiwan foundry giant TSMC before retiring in 2006, has been appointed executive director and vice-chairman of SMIC and a member of its strategic committee, according to a SMIC stock filing on Tuesday.