TSMC is the world’s largest dedicated semiconductor foundry and a frequent top-ten company by market capitalization.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, usually called TSMC, manufactures chips designed by other companies. This contract-manufacturing model lets customers such as Nvidia, Apple, and AMD design processors without owning comparable fabrication plants.
TSMC was founded in 1987 in Hsinchu, Taiwan, with support from the Taiwanese government and Philips. Its business model helped establish the modern “fabless” semiconductor industry, in which design and manufacturing can be handled by separate companies.
TSMC’s market value rose sharply with demand for advanced processors used in smartphones, high-performance computing, and artificial intelligence. TSMC is not the same type of company as Nvidia: Nvidia primarily designs chips, while TSMC fabricates chips for customers. Its shares trade in Taiwan, and American depositary receipts trade in the United States.