TSMC operates the world's largest semiconductor foundry, manufacturing chips designed by other companies.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company was founded in 1987 by Morris Chang in Hsinchu, Taiwan. Its dedicated-foundry model separated chip design from chip manufacturing, allowing customers to create processors without owning their own advanced fabrication plants.
TSMC manufactures products for many major technology companies, including processors and other specialized chips. Its leadership depends on extremely complex processes, costly factories, precision equipment, engineering expertise, and long-term investment in smaller manufacturing nodes.
TSMC is sometimes confused with fabless chip designers such as Nvidia or AMD. Those companies design important processors, while TSMC manufactures chips for customers. Semiconductor market capitalization can change quickly because of demand cycles, geopolitics, capital spending, and supply-chain risks, but TSMC's foundry role is a stable defining fact.