TSMC became the world’s largest dedicated semiconductor foundry.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, usually called TSMC, was founded in 1987 by Morris Chang. Its business model focused on manufacturing chips designed by other companies rather than competing with customers by selling many of its own branded processors.
This foundry model allowed companies such as Apple, Nvidia, and AMD to design advanced chips while outsourcing fabrication to TSMC. Its leading-edge manufacturing capacity made the company strategically important and helped it become one of the world’s most valuable listed businesses.
TSMC is headquartered in Hsinchu, Taiwan, and operates fabrication plants in Taiwan and overseas. It is sometimes mistaken for a chip designer, but its defining role is contract manufacturing, supported by extensive process technology and specialized factories.