Podcast Summary: New Books Network Episode: Honghong Tinn, "Island Tinkerers: Innovation and Transformation in the Making of Taiwan's Computing Industry" (MIT Press, 2024) Host: Li Ping Chen Date: February 26, 2026

Episode Overview

This episode features a detailed discussion between host Li Ping Chen and Dr. Honghong Tinn about Tinn’s new book, Island Tinkerers: Innovation and Transformation in the Making of Taiwan's Computing Industry. The book charts Taiwan’s remarkable journey from a former colony and marginalized state to a global technology powerhouse. Dr. Tinn challenges the stereotypical East-as-imitator/West-as-innovator narrative, highlighting the crucial role of local engineers, students, technocrats, military, women workers, and entrepreneurs who collectively shaped Taiwan’s unique approach to computing innovation through hands-on "tinkering."

Key Topics & Insights

1. Dr. Honghong Tinn’s Background

• Dr. Tinn is a faculty member at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, in both the History of Science, Technology and Medicine and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. She teaches courses on computing history, the internet, and ethics in technology, and serves in various scholarly associations.
  (03:13)

2. Origins of the Book: A Personal and Historical Perspective

• Tinn's interest began during her college days in Taiwan, where building your own computer was common. This personal experience motivated her to explore the historical roots of Taiwan’s DIY computing culture, tracing its evolution from the 1960s onward.
  (05:04)

Notable Quote:

“When I was a college student, I built my own desktop computers… I started thinking about was this kind of putting together your own computer culture also kind of dominating the computer culture in the 60s, 70s, 80s...”
— Honghong Tinn (05:04)

3. Chapters 1-3: The Pivotal Role of Jiao Tong University (NCTU)

• Jia Tong University’s Centrality:
  The first computers in Taiwan (IBM mainframes) were installed at Jia Tong University via a UN technical aid program, sparking early computing education and research.
• Strategic Framing:
  Alumni emphasized electrical engineering’s importance by analogizing it to nuclear science, appealing to the Cold War government’s prioritization of technological self-sufficiency.
• Negotiating Aid:
  There were significant differences in priorities between Taiwanese applicants (long-term STEM education) and the UN (immediate industry impact), leading to intricate negotiations.
• Early Tinkering:
  The university famously hired an in-house technician to maintain an IBM mainframe, rather than relying on IBM’s service—an early, practical example of “tinkering.” (07:43-13:17)

Notable Quote:

“...shows how the tinkering practice was already kind of beginning in the computing culture in Taiwan in the 1960s.”
— Honghong Tinn (12:50)

4. Chapter 4: Military and Technology

• Timelines:
  Military began using computers in 1967 but had already sent personnel for training as early as 1962 at Jia Tong University.
• International Interplay:
  CIA involvement in installing an IBM computer for intelligence sharing in Taiwan in 1963 underscores US-Taiwan ties.
• Contrast with the US:
  Unlike the US’s “military-industrial-academic complex,” in Taiwan, academia (esp. Jia Tong University) was ahead of the military in adopting computer technology.
  (14:31–19:11)

Notable Quote:

“In Taiwan you don’t really see that triangle [military-industrial-academic complex]... Jiao Tong University was actually ahead of military to do all this kind of application part of it.”
— Honghong Tinn (18:44)

5. Chapter 5: Student Tinkerers and Entrepreneurial Origins

• Student Projects:
  1960s students at multiple universities attempted to build mini-computers and calculators from scratch, sourcing recycled/new components from various origins.
• Success Story – Barry Lam:
  Notably, Barry Lam participated in such projects at National Taiwan University before founding Quanta Computer, now a major global supplier (17% of servers worldwide; produced 1 in 3 laptops globally as of 2020).
• Hands-on Skills as Innovation Seeds:
  Lam’s practical soldering and assembly skills are highlighted as pivotal to his and Taiwan’s manufacturing success. (21:22–26:33)

Notable Quote:

“He was really the best person in the company to do soldering, welding, computer parts or circuits...he was really good with these hands on experiences.”
— Honghong Tinn (25:50)

6. Chapters 6–7: Factories, Engineers, and Gendered Labor

• Export Processing Zones:
  Since the mid-1960s, government policy encouraged foreign manufacturers to establish factories in Taiwan, which became training grounds for a new class of engineering talent.
• Engineers’ Pathways:
  Male engineers (often college-educated) gained expertise maintaining and adapting foreign machinery, which later enabled entrepreneurial ventures.
• Women Workers:
  Female factory workers were lauded for dexterity and reliability but faced lower wages, crowded dorms, health hazards, and virtually no upward mobility compared to men.
• Memory Work and Cultural Reflections:
  A unique anecdote details a woman worker likening her job in magnetic core memory assembly to ‘operation of a computer with a memory unit’—demonstrating the intersection of labor, technology, and identity.
• Representation in Literature:
  The 1979 film Fly Up with Love offered a rare, if optimistic, vision of alternative futures for factory women. (27:57–44:36)

Notable Quote:

“They needed to figure out the kind of most successful way to put together a product… they needed to standardize their bodily experiences...”
— Honghong Tinn (34:10)

“...think of our work as the operation of a computer with a memory unit...”
— Woman factory worker, as relayed by Tinn (41:36)

7. Chapters 8–9: The Rise of Acer and Stan Shih

• Multitech to Acer:
  Stan Shih, another quintessential tinkerer, founded Multitech (which became Acer), drawing on hands-on experience assembling electronics and managing start-ups.
• Business and Legal Innovation:
  Acer navigated the gray area between compatible and counterfeit products (Apple/IBM lawsuits), necessitating both technical and strategic corporate innovations.
• International Negotiations:
  Acer’s growth required not only hardware knowledge but constant negotiation and adaptation to international competitors’ strategies and intellectual property claims. (46:48–54:39)

Notable Quote:

“Taiwanese tinkerers always have to… strategically cope with, with or negotiated with the misunderstandings and conflicts when they interacted with their international counterparts.”
— Honghong Tinn (52:10)

8. Chapter 10: TSMC and the ‘Dedicated Foundry’ Model

• Morris Chang and the TSMC Revolution:
  TSMC’s innovative “dedicated foundry” model—separating IC design from IC manufacturing—was realized by Morris Chang in 1987, leveraging Taiwan’s robust industrial infrastructure and foreign partnerships (notably with Philips).
• Taiwan’s Unique Ecosystem:
  The book argues such a model was only possible in Taiwan, due to the interplay of government support, industrial readiness, and cross-national corporate alliances. (55:39–64:12)

Notable Quote:

“...his genius idea was also a product of the Taiwanese society at that time because in the mid-1980s, this new type of dedicated foundry model was only possible in Taiwan because of Taiwan’s existing industrial infrastructure...”
— Honghong Tinn (56:37)

9. What’s Next?

• Dr. Tinn has recently completed an article, Teaching the History of Emerging Technologies in the Information Age, arguing that historians of technology offer vital context and critical thinking for today’s rapidly evolving tech landscape. The article will be included in a volume honoring her advisor Ronald R. Klein.
  (64:50–68:14)

Memorable Moments

• The story of a woman factory worker likening her job to the operation of a computer memory (41:36) underscores the deep entanglement of technological labor and personal identity.
• The connection between Taiwan’s student-led tinkering in the 1960s and the global dominance of firms like Quanta Computer, Acer, and TSMC illustrates the country’s unique path from “hands-on” to “high-tech.”

Key Timestamps

• 03:13 — Dr. Tinn’s background and academic trajectory
• 05:04 — Origins of the book and personal inspiration
• 07:43 — Jia Tong University as technological launchpad
• 14:31 — Military adoption of computers and US-Taiwan collaboration
• 21:22 — Student innovation, DIY projects, and the Barry Lam story
• 27:57 — Factory engineers, export zones, gendered labor dynamics
• 34:10 — Women’s experience and challenges in tech factories
• 41:36 — Women workers “internalizing” memory work
• 46:48 — Stan Shih’s journey and Acer’s emergence
• 55:39 — Morris Chang, TSMC, and Taiwan’s foundry breakthrough
• 64:50 — Future projects and focus on teaching tech history

Further Resources (as discussed in episode):

• Fly Up with Love (1979 film): A rare portrayal of women factory workers’ lives (IMDb link in show notes)
• Yangyang Zheng’s podcast on labor and deindustrialization in East Asia
• Dr. Tinn’s YouTube presentations on Acer, Apple, and Taiwan’s computing companies (links to be added in show notes)
• The book Island Tinkerers is open access—see show notes for the link

Summary in the Author's Words:

"Defying the stereotypes of 'the West innovates and the East imitates,' my book tells the story of Taiwanese technologists over the past six decades—how their hands-on tinkering catalyzed both understanding and innovation, making firms like Acer, Asus, Quanta, and TSMC global players." — Honghong Tinn (paraphrased from introduction)

For listeners and readers interested in Taiwan’s rise as a technological superpower, the entanglement of education, gender, labor, and entrepreneurship, and the lived realities behind the devices we use every day, Island Tinkerers provides a rich, critical, and human-centered history.