Speakers
Prof. Chenming Hu
TSMC Distinguished Professor Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley
Professor Chenming Hu is the TSMC Distinguished Chair Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley). From 2001 to 2004, he served as the Chief Technology Officer of TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company).
Regarded as the “Father of the 3D Transistor” by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), he led the invention and development of the 3D thin-body transistor (FinFET) in 1999—a breakthrough Intel hailed as the most radical shift in semiconductor technology in over 50 years. Modern computers, smartphones, and AI chips all run on these 3D thin-body transistor chips.
Professor Hu received the US National Medal of Technology and Innovation from President Obama in the White House in 2016. In 2023, he received the Taiwan Presidential Science Prize. Since 1995, he has led the ongoing development of BSIM, the industry-standard computer model for transistors. Provided royalty-free to the global IC industry, these models have underpinned the design of integrated circuits worth over a trillion US dollars.
In 2020, Professor Hu received the IEEE Medal of Honor for helping to “keep Moore’s Law going over many decades.” This followed his recognition in 2009 as a “Microelectronics Visionary” for “achievements critical to producing smaller yet more reliable and higher-performance integrated circuits.” The 2013 Phil Kaufman Award cited his “tremendous career of creativity and innovation that fuelled the past four decades of the semiconductor industry.”
Professor Hu has authored six books, published over 1,000 research papers, and holds more than 100 US patents. He is an elected member of the US National Academy of Engineering, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the US Academy of Inventors, Academia Sinica, and The World Academy of Sciences.
His extensive honours include being named Asian American Engineer of the Year, induction into the Silicon Valley Engineering Hall of Fame, and receiving the IEEE Jack Morton Award, the IEEE Solid-State Circuits Award, the Nishizawa Medal, and the EDS Education Award. He also received UC Berkeley’s highest teaching honour—the Berkeley Distinguished Teaching Award.
Professor Hu earned his BS degree from National Taiwan University, where he received its Distinguished Alumni Award, and completed his MS and PhD degrees at UC Berkeley.