TSMC is the world’s largest dedicated semiconductor foundry by manufacturing capacity and revenue.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company was founded in 1987 by Morris Chang in Hsinchu, Taiwan. Its business model focused on manufacturing chips designed by other companies, allowing customers to avoid building and operating their own advanced fabrication plants.
This model helped create the modern fabless semiconductor industry. Companies such as Apple, NVIDIA, and Qualcomm can design processors while relying on specialist manufacturers for production. TSMC invests heavily in increasingly sophisticated process technologies and large fabrication facilities.
TSMC is frequently discussed alongside the world’s richest companies because its manufacturing role gives it strategic importance far beyond its own products. It does not primarily sell consumer-branded chips; instead, it produces chips for many of the world’s most prominent technology companies.