Morris Zhang suggested the greatest innovations are invented by he front-line IC design companies instead of the integrated device manufacturers (IDM) in the past 25 years. Especially, the high-performance and low-power chips have changed the world.

Zhang said that according to the Moore's law, the semiconductor process enters in another generation in every 18 months, with the growing amount of doubled transistors lead to the smaller and powerful chip. However, since the semiconductor advanced process stepped into 10nm, as long as the delivery rate of extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) hasn't meet the market expectations resulted in the huge challenge for its next-generation — 7nm.

“Internet of things (IoT) and smart home are driving forces of the semiconductor industry, how to keep up with the trend by the related technologies will be the challenge for all of us.” Zhang added.

In addition to Zhang's talk, the International Society for Optical Engineering chose Zhang for the award because he initiated the foundry business model, which has revolutionized the global semiconductor industry.

Zhang is the fourth recipient of the Visionary Award, in the society's nearly 60-year history.