Among the world's richest companies by market cap, TSMC is Taiwan's leading semiconductor foundry.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, commonly called TSMC, was founded in 1987 in Hsinchu, Taiwan. It pioneered the dedicated foundry model: TSMC manufactures chips designed by other companies instead of primarily selling chips under its own consumer brand.
This model allows customers such as fabless chip designers to outsource production while concentrating on architecture and product design. TSMC manufactures processors and other semiconductors for sectors including smartphones, high-performance computing, automobiles, and artificial intelligence.
A foundry is different from an integrated device manufacturer, which designs and manufactures many of its own chips. TSMC's market value reflects the strategic importance of advanced semiconductor production, but market capitalization changes with share prices and should not be confused with annual revenue or physical factory value.