TSMC was founded in 1987 by Morris Chang to manufacture chips designed by other companies.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company pioneered the dedicated semiconductor foundry model. Instead of designing most chips for its own branded products, TSMC manufactures integrated circuits for customers that provide their own designs.
This separation allowed many “fabless” companies to focus on architecture and products without building their own expensive fabrication plants. TSMC became a crucial supplier for advanced processors used in smartphones, computers, graphics cards, and artificial-intelligence systems.
TSMC is sometimes confused with semiconductor designers such as Nvidia or Qualcomm. Those companies create chip designs, while TSMC primarily fabricates chips for customers, although the modern semiconductor industry involves many overlapping partnerships.