Oct 28, 2015 - 8:00 AM

SAN JOSE, Calif. (October 27, 2015) – The Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA), the voice of the global semiconductor industry, proudly announces the winner of the 2015 Dr. Morris Chang Exemplary Leadership Award: Chairman and CEO of MediaTek Incorporated, Mr. Ming-Kai (MK) Tsai. He will be presented with this achievement award during the GSA Awards Dinner Celebration on Thursday, December 10, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, Calif.

“We are honored to present this year’s Dr. Morris Chang Exemplary Leadership Award to a pioneer of Taiwan’s IC design industry, who has built one of the most essential business models in the world and created a prominent global company that has contributed greatly to GSA since we became a global alliance in 2003”, said Jodi Shelton, president of GSA. "Recognizing Chairman Tsai’s vision as a worldwide leader who has made a lasting impact on the industry truly epitomizes the evolution of the industry, and under his guidance, MediaTek has become a global leader."

Established in 1999, the first GSA “Exemplary Leadership Award” was given to Dr. Morris Chang, chairman and chief executive officer of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (TSMC). Today, the Dr. Morris Chang Exemplary Leadership Award recognizes individuals for their exceptional contributions, exemplifying how their vision and global leadership have transformed and elevated the entire semiconductor industry.

“I greatly appreciate receiving the highest honor from these undisputed experts on the semiconductor industry,” said Chairman Tsai. “I share this honor with my colleagues at MediaTek. This award validates the success so far of our mission to help connect the world’s next billion middle class people.”

Chairman Tsai established MediaTek in Hsinchu, Taiwan, in 1997. Under his leadership, MediaTek has grown to one of the top-three fabless semiconductor companies in the world, and is the first and only top-listed fabless semiconductor company headquartered outside USA. MediaTek ranks, by revenue, the largest in optical storage, optical disk players and DTV chipsets, and the second largest in mobile phone cellular baseband chipsets in the world.

Chairman Tsai received a BSEE from National Taiwan University and a MSEE from University of Cincinnati. His career began with Electronic Research & Service Organization (ERSO) at Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), a national leading technology research firm in Taiwan, where he served as IC Design Manager for seven years. During the next 14 years, he took on various high-level executive positions at United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC). In 1994, he was made president of UMC’s Business Unit II, which produced chipsets for consumer and multimedia products. Three years later, the division was spun off and formed into what is now MediaTek.

Chairman Tsai has received various awards and accolades for his achievements, including the ITRI Laureate Award, honorary doctoral degrees from National Tsing Hua University and National Chiao Tung University, and the Distinguished Graduate Alumni Award from National Taiwan University in Taiwan. Chairman Tsai is also the author of the book, “Search for the Competitive Strength”, published in Taiwan in 2002. In the book, he shares with readers his insight and experience with the global IC design industry. In 2013 and 2014, Chairman Tsai was recognized as one of the “100 Best-Performing CEOs in the World” by Harvard Business Review. In 2015, MediaTek appeared on Forbes’ Global 2000, where Chairman Tsai was additionally named as the third top performing CEO from the list.

About the GSA Awards Dinner

The annual GSA Awards Dinner Celebration is the industry’s premier event. Each year the GSA recognizes companies that have demonstrated excellence through their vision, strategy, execution and future opportunity. The celebration honors the achievements of semiconductor companies in several categories ranging from outstanding leadership to financial accomplishments, as well as overall respect within the industry. The Awards Dinner Celebration will start at 5:00 p.m. with a networking reception, followed by dinner at 6:15 p.m. To make reservations to attend the Awards Dinner, please visit the reservations page.

About GSA

The Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA) mission is to support the global semiconductor industry and its partners by offering a comprehensive view of the industry. This enables members to better anticipate market opportunities and industry trends, preparing them for technology and business shifts. It addresses the challenges within the supply chain including IP, EDA/design, wafer manufacturing, test and packaging to enable industry-wide solutions. Providing a platform for meaningful global collaboration through efficient power networking for global semiconductor leaders and their partners, the Alliance identifies and articulates market opportunities, encourages and supports entrepreneurship, and provides members with comprehensive and unique market intelligence. Members include companies throughout the supply chain representing 30 countries across the globe. www.gsaglobal.org

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About MediaTek

Since 1997, MediaTek has been a pioneering fabless semiconductor company and a market leader in cutting-edge systems-on-chip (SoC) for mobile devices, wireless networking, HDTV, DVD and Blu-ray. Our tightly-integrated, innovative chip designs help manufacturers optimize supply chains, reduce the development time of new products, and extend a competitive edge in crowded markets. Through MediaTek Labs, the company is also building a developer hub that will support device creation, application development, and services for the Internet of Things era. By building technologies that help connect individuals to the world around them, MediaTek is enabling people to expand their horizons and more easily achieve their goals. We believe anyone can achieve something amazing. And we believe they can do it every single day. We call this idea Everyday Genius and it drives everything we do.