TSMC, formally Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, pioneered the dedicated semiconductor foundry model after Morris Chang founded it in 1987.
A pure-play foundry manufactures chips designed by other companies instead of mainly selling chips under its own consumer brand. This separation allows customers to design processors without building and operating their own fabrication plants. TSMC’s model helped create a more specialized semiconductor industry in which designers and manufacturers could scale independently.
TSMC began operations in Taiwan and became a critical supplier for advanced chips used in smartphones, computers, servers, graphics processors, and artificial-intelligence systems. Its customers have included major chip-design companies that rely on TSMC’s manufacturing processes. The company invests heavily in fabrication technology and large semiconductor plants, known as fabs.
TSMC is sometimes described as a chip designer because its customers design many of the products made in its factories. That is not the company’s defining role. Its market importance comes primarily from manufacturing expertise, process technology, production capacity, and relationships with leading semiconductor designers.