TSMC is the world’s largest contract chip manufacturer and became a major market-cap leader during the artificial-intelligence boom.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, usually called TSMC, manufactures chips designed by other companies. This business model is known as a pure-play foundry: TSMC generally does not sell chips under its own consumer brand, but produces semiconductors for customers such as Nvidia, Apple, and AMD.
TSMC was founded in Taiwan in 1987 by Morris Chang. Its advanced manufacturing processes have made it a critical supplier for high-performance processors used in smartphones, data centers, and artificial-intelligence systems. Strong expected demand for AI chips helped drive investor interest in the company.
TSMC is often confused with Nvidia because both are central to modern AI hardware. Nvidia designs leading AI processors, while TSMC manufactures many advanced chips designed by Nvidia and other firms. Their roles in the semiconductor supply chain are different.