TSMC, or Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, manufactures chips designed by many of the world’s most valuable technology companies.
Founded in 1987 by Morris Chang, TSMC pioneered the dedicated semiconductor foundry model. Instead of designing branded consumer processors for its own products, it manufactures chips for customers such as Nvidia, Apple, and Qualcomm.
This business model helped create a highly specialized semiconductor industry. Companies can focus on processor architecture and software while relying on TSMC’s fabrication plants, known as fabs, to produce chips at advanced manufacturing nodes.
TSMC is often confused with Samsung Electronics and Intel because all three operate major semiconductor businesses. Samsung also manufactures chips and sells its own electronics, while Intel historically designed and manufactured its own processors. TSMC’s importance to market rankings comes from its central role in the supply chain for high-performance computing, smartphones, and artificial intelligence.