Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, commonly called TSMC, began operations in 1987.
Morris Chang founded TSMC in Hsinchu, Taiwan, with support from the Taiwanese government and Philips. The company pioneered the dedicated semiconductor foundry model: it manufactures chips designed by other companies rather than selling mainly its own branded processors. That arrangement allowed designers such as fabless chip companies to develop advanced products without building and operating their own factories.
TSMC is often confused with semiconductor design companies such as Nvidia or Qualcomm. Nvidia designs important chips, while TSMC manufactures chips for many customers, including Nvidia and other major technology firms. The two companies therefore occupy different parts of the semiconductor supply chain.
TSMC’s importance grew as chip manufacturing moved toward smaller process technologies. Its advanced production capacity became especially significant for high-performance computing, smartphones, and artificial-intelligence hardware. Its market capitalization fluctuates, but 1987 remains the company’s founding and operating-start year.