TSMC is the world’s largest dedicated contract chip manufacturer.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, commonly called TSMC, was founded in 1987 by Morris Chang. Its business model separated chip design from chip fabrication: customers design processors, while TSMC manufactures them in its fabs. This model helped create the modern pure-play foundry industry.
TSMC produces advanced chips for customers in computing, smartphones, communications, automobiles, and artificial intelligence. It manufactures chips designed by companies such as Apple, Nvidia, and AMD, but it generally does not market competing branded processors of its own. Because demand for leading-edge chips can strongly affect investor expectations, TSMC is frequently included among the world’s highest-market-capitalization companies.