TSMC is the Taiwanese semiconductor company known by the stock ticker TSM that manufactures chips designed by other companies.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, commonly called TSMC, operates a dedicated semiconductor foundry business. It produces integrated circuits designed by customers rather than primarily selling chips under its own consumer brand. Its U.S.-listed American depositary receipts use the ticker TSM.
TSMC was founded in 1987 by Morris Chang in Hsinchu, Taiwan. The company helped establish the dedicated-foundry model, allowing chip designers to outsource manufacturing instead of building and operating their own fabrication plants.
This role makes TSMC different from companies such as Intel, which historically designed and manufactured many of its own processors, and fabless firms such as Nvidia, which design chips but outsource production. Because advanced chipmaking requires enormous investment, TSMC’s manufacturing scale has made it one of the world’s most valuable semiconductor companies.