Artificial Intelligence · Profile from AI Research Companion
TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company)
The Taiwanese contract chipmaker founded by Morris Chang in 1987 on an idea the industry first dismissed: a "pure-play" foundry that makes chips for others and never sells chips of its own. Almost four decades later it makes almost every leading-edge AI accelerator in the world, for Nvidia, AMD, Broadcom's custom-chip clients and the hyperscalers, as well as Apple's iPhone and Mac processors. It also owns the advanced packaging (CoWoS) that was the binding constraint on AI chip output in 2023–24. Revenue was NT$3.81tn (~$122bn) in 2025, +31.6% in NT dollars and ~36% in US dollars, at a 59.9% gross margin (company). Its gross margin reached 66.4% in the quarter to September 2026, and the company was valued at ~$2.1tn in May 2026 (capital.com ranking, reported). Most of its advanced capacity sits about 160km from mainland China, which makes TSMC the most important company in the AI supply chain and the largest single tail risk in it.
At a glance
- Founded
- February 21, 1987, in Hsinchu Science Park, Taiwan (company)
- Founder
- Morris Chang (born 1931, Ningbo; ex-Texas Instruments group vice-president, then head of Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute)
- Headquarters
- Hsinchu, Taiwan
- Ownership / structure
- Listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (2330, 1994) with American depositary shares on the NYSE (TSM, 1997). Taiwan's National Development Fund holds ~6% (reported); foreign investors hold more than 70% of shares (reported, verify). Philips, a founding shareholder, sold out by 2008
- Leadership (2026)
- C.C. Wei (chairman and CEO since June 2024; CEO since 2018); Wendell Huang (CFO); Y.J. Mii and Y.P. Chyn among senior executives (verify current titles)
- Products
- Wafer fabrication from mature nodes (0.18µm–28nm) to the leading edge (N5/N4, N3, N2 in volume from the fourth quarter of 2025, A16 planned for the second half of 2026); specialty processes (RF, power, image sensors, embedded memory); advanced packaging under the "3DFabric" brand (CoWoS, InFO, SoIC); design ecosystem (Open Innovation Platform)
- Scale
- ~67–70% of global foundry revenue in 2025 (TrendForce, reported); ~90% of the most advanced logic (reported); ~16–17m 12-inch-equivalent wafers a year (reported, verify); ~83,000+ employees (2024, verify)
- Revenue and profit
- 2025: revenue NT$3.81tn (~$122bn); net income ~NT$1.72tn; gross margin 59.9%; operating margin 50.8%; EPS NT$66.25 (company). Q3 2026: revenue $46.72bn (NT$1,494bn, +41.2% y/y in US dollars); gross margin 66.4%; operating margin 58.7%; net income NT$763bn; EPS NT$29.43 (company, October 15, 2026)
- Capital / regulatory status
- Capex ~$40.9bn in 2025; 2026 guidance $52–56bn (January 2026), raised to $60–64bn (by October 2026). US investment plan ~$165bn (March 2025). US CHIPS Act award of up to $6.6bn in grants plus ~$5bn of loans (finalized November 2024, reported). Subject to Taiwanese rules on exporting leading-edge process technology and to US export controls through the foreign direct product rule
- Signature moves (incl. failures)
- Pure-play foundry founding (1987); Apple, FinFET and the leading edge (2014–16); the Huawei cutoff and the foundry rule (2020–25); Arizona fabs and their delays (2020–26); Japan, Germany and geographic hedging (2021–27); the CoWoS bottleneck (2023–25); the ~$165bn US investment and tariffs (2025–26); the 2nm ramp and the AI supercycle (2025–26)
8 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
1987
Pure Play Foundry Founding
Founding
2014
Apple FinFET and the Leading Edge
Partnership / launch
2020
Arizona Fabs and Delays
Expansion (setback)
2020
Huawei Cutoff and the Foundry Rule
Regulatory action
2022
Japan Germany and Geographic Hedging
Expansion / partnership
2023
CoWoS Bottleneck
Capacity expansion
2025
165bn US Investment and Tariffs
Investment / regulatory bargain
2025
2nm Ramp and the AI Supercycle
Launch / capacity expansion