Alex Wu (吳明韋)

@Awu85

Husband, Dad, Founding Team @nexplayground/ @homecourtai, Co-Founder Asian American Artists Foundation, Cavalier Ventures, Obama 08/ Meta/ Quora/ Uber alum

San Francisco

Joined November 2008

3.3K Following

767 Followers

2.3K Posts

Alex Wu (吳明韋)

@Awu85

about 1 month ago

@melefante6 Tax

Alex Wu (吳明韋)

@Awu85

2 months ago

@alexisohanian LFG!!!

Alex Wu (吳明韋)

@Awu85

4 months ago

How do you convince Silicon Valley talent to move to a rice paddy in 1980s Taiwan? We talk a lot about TSMC’s journey, but one piece of “human infrastructure” rarely gets mentioned—yet it played a critical role in building Taiwan’s semiconductor industry. It’s my high school: National Experimental High School Bilingual Department (aka International Bilingual School at Hsinchu Science Park), the modern global chip supply chain’s best-kept secret. Headlines now celebrate Taiwan officially surpassing Japan and South Korea in GDP per capita. The economic engine is clear: an AI boom powered by TSMC and the “Silicon Shield.” But when I see those charts, I don’t just see industrial policy. I see my classmates in bright pink uniforms at flag ceremony, cleaning hallways every afternoon, and getting into normal teenage trouble. I’m a proud alum of National Experimental High School (NEHS) in Hsinchu. To outsiders, it’s just a small public school with fewer than 40 students per grade. To those of us who grew up there, it was the hidden heart of Hsinchu Science Park and the global chip supply chain. In the 1980s, the Taiwanese government faced a challenge money alone couldn’t solve. They needed top engineering talent to return from the U.S.—not just to work, but to build a nation. These were families with established lives abroad, yet drawn home by a sense of purpose. Patriotism, however, doesn’t erase parenthood. They wouldn’t uproot their children unless the kids could thrive in the new system. So the government created NEHS—a bilingual, U.S.-curriculum “safe harbor” right next to the fabs. It was the bridge that let them say yes. Today Taiwan’s economy is breaking records. But before they could build the fabs, they had to build the community. You can import machinery, but you have to home the talent. On a personal note, I owe an apology to my wonderful AP Calculus teacher, Ms. Christine Huang, for dragging down our class average back then. She later became Principal of NEHS and today is Chairwoman of Leantec, the robotics arm of newly listed billion-dollar smart manufacturing giant Syntec. That’s the level of talent we were surrounded by—from the blackboard to the boardroom. To my NEHS family: tag a fellow alum below ❤️ (And if you see Ms. Huang, tell her I’m slightly better at math now 😂)

Awu85's tweet photo. How do you convince Silicon Valley talent to move to a rice paddy in 1980s Taiwan?

We talk a lot about TSMC’s journey, but one piece of “human infrastructure” rarely gets mentioned—yet it played a critical role in building Taiwan’s semiconductor industry.

It’s my high school: National Experimental High School Bilingual Department (aka International Bilingual School at Hsinchu Science Park), the modern global chip supply chain’s best-kept secret.

Headlines now celebrate Taiwan officially surpassing Japan and South Korea in GDP per capita. The economic engine is clear: an AI boom powered by TSMC and the “Silicon Shield.”

But when I see those charts, I don’t just see industrial policy. I see my classmates in bright pink uniforms at flag ceremony, cleaning hallways every afternoon, and getting into normal teenage trouble.

I’m a proud alum of National Experimental High School (NEHS) in Hsinchu. To outsiders, it’s just a small public school with fewer than 40 students per grade. To those of us who grew up there, it was the hidden heart of Hsinchu Science Park and the global chip supply chain.

In the 1980s, the Taiwanese government faced a challenge money alone couldn’t solve. They needed top engineering talent to return from the U.S.—not just to work, but to build a nation. These were families with established lives abroad, yet drawn home by a sense of purpose.

Patriotism, however, doesn’t erase parenthood. They wouldn’t uproot their children unless the kids could thrive in the new system.

So the government created NEHS—a bilingual, U.S.-curriculum “safe harbor” right next to the fabs. It was the bridge that let them say yes.

Today Taiwan’s economy is breaking records. But before they could build the fabs, they had to build the community. You can import machinery, but you have to home the talent.

On a personal note, I owe an apology to my wonderful AP Calculus teacher, Ms. Christine Huang, for dragging down our class average back then. She later became Principal of NEHS and today is Chairwoman of Leantec, the robotics arm of newly listed billion-dollar smart manufacturing giant Syntec.

That’s the level of talent we were surrounded by—from the blackboard to the boardroom.

To my NEHS family: tag a fellow alum below ❤️ (And if you see Ms. Huang, tell her I’m slightly better at math now 😂)

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Alex Wu (吳明韋)

@Awu85

4 months ago

@ankurnagpal Sign me up

Who to follow

Just sharing what I collect & enjoy ✨ Banner: "The Moon" by @ohnehals Profile: @dev1ce by @KolexGG x @ESLCS

Servify

@ServifyHQ

Reinventing device ownership experiences, globally! Consumer support: 1800 123 333 888 Mon-Sun 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM

Alex Wu (吳明韋)

@Awu85

4 months ago

@_willcompton Harborview

Alex Wu (吳明韋)

@Awu85

5 months ago

@CJNitkowski @Enough_of_liies Why isn’t the bonus taxed? Aren’t bonuses taxed as just ordinary income? Or is it because they are not technically working in the state when they receive the bonus?