Half of the story.

Taiwanese government gave Morris Chang blank check to build Taiwanese chip industry and provided 48 percent of the funding. Li Kwoh-ting (economist and politician, "Father of Taiwan's Economic Miracle") transformed Taiwan from agricultural society into tech-giant. Without Li, there would be no TSMC. Early on Taiwanese government decided to focus on two areas: plastics and electronics. Both paid off, but electronics really took off.