TSMC is the world’s largest dedicated semiconductor foundry and one of Asia’s most valuable companies.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company manufactures chips designed by other companies rather than selling a broad range of chips under its own consumer brand. This business model is called a pure-play foundry model. TSMC’s customers have included major technology companies that design processors for smartphones, computers, data centers, and artificial-intelligence systems.
The company was founded in 1987 by Morris Chang in Hsinchu, Taiwan. Its production leadership comes from advanced manufacturing processes, enormous fabrication plants, and long experience producing chips at very small feature sizes.
TSMC’s market capitalization has benefited from demand for advanced chips, particularly processors used in AI and high-performance computing. It is often compared with Samsung Electronics, but Samsung operates a much broader set of businesses, including consumer electronics, displays, and memory chips.