Although at the time IBM was the company that had been developing copper-based chip technologies the longest, TSMC thought it would take at least another year for the technology to be perfected and transferred. When this happened, TSMC would probably just be a No. 2 in the industry, always struggling to keep up with the industry leader.
當時 IBM 雖是研究銅製程最久的公司，但台積電認為，若等到 IBM 技術成熟再移轉，至少需要一年時間，屆時台積電恐怕只能做個永遠在後面苦苦追趕的業界老二了。