Build story · Taiwan · 1987–2023
TSMC: manufacturing chips for everyone else
Morris Chang founded TSMC to manufacture chips designed by other companies without competing with them. The model enabled companies like Nvidia and Apple, and TSMC came to make most of the world's advanced chips.
By Shivam Bhandari · Reviewed 31 October 2026 · How we write
by the numbers
- Founded
- 1987
- Global foundry share (2023)
- around 60%
- Revenue (2023)
- about $69 billion
What happened
In 1987, with backing from the Taiwanese government and Philips, Morris Chang — a former Texas Instruments executive — founded Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. At the time, chip companies designed and manufactured their own chips.
TSMC's ‘pure-play foundry’ model meant it only manufactured, never designing chips of its own, so customers could trust it with their designs. This allowed ‘fabless’ chip designers — such as Nvidia, Qualcomm, AMD, and later Apple — to exist without building multi-billion-dollar factories. TSMC reinvested heavily to stay ahead in manufacturing technology.
TSMC held around 60% of the global foundry market in 2023 and made most of the world's most advanced chips, with revenue of about $69 billion that year.
Timeline
- 1987
TSMC founded.
- 1997
Lists on the NYSE.
- 2014
Begins making Apple's processors.
what made it work
- Never competed with its customers.
- Enabled a new type of company (fabless designers).
- Relentless investment in manufacturing technology.
the lesson
Becoming the trusted, neutral supplier to an entire industry can be more powerful than competing within it.
Apply it to your business
- 1Could you serve all competitors in your industry?
- 2Earn trust by not competing with customers.
- 3Reinvest to stay ahead in your core capability.
Laws at work in this story
Figures are rounded and drawn from public reports, company filings and widely cited coverage at the time. Check the company's latest filings before relying on any number.