TSMC became the first Asian chip manufacturer to exceed a $1 trillion market capitalization in 2024.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company crossed the threshold as investors raised their expectations for demand for advanced chips used in artificial intelligence, smartphones, high-performance computing, and other technologies. TSMC is the world’s leading dedicated semiconductor foundry, manufacturing designs created by companies such as Nvidia, Apple, and AMD.
The company was founded in Taiwan in 1987 by Morris Chang, who pioneered the pure-play foundry model. Under that model, TSMC manufactures chips for customers without competing with them by selling its own branded consumer processors.
TSMC is sometimes confused with Samsung Electronics, which both designs and manufactures semiconductors. TSMC’s distinctive role is contract manufacturing at enormous scale, especially for leading-edge process technologies. Its market cap, like that of every listed company, changes with its share price.