# TSMC > Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company: the world's dominant chip foundry, making roughly 72% of global advanced silicon and the irreplaceable center of the AI supply chain. **Meta:** type: reference · date: 2026-07-03 · heads: · 4 takes · 1 lenses · 2 regions ## What it is Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC, TWSE: 2330 / NYSE: TSM), headquartered in Hsinchu, Taiwan, is the world's largest dedicated chip foundry: it manufactures semiconductors designed by others and owns no end products of its own. In 2025, TSMC produced 12,682 distinct products using 305 process technologies for 534 customers, from a global logic capacity exceeding 17 million 12-inch-equivalent wafers. As of Q1 2026, TSMC held 72.3% of global foundry revenue by market share, a margin so wide that Samsung, its nearest rival, held roughly 7%. The company carries the semiconductor industry's highest credit ratings (S&P: AA-, Moody's: Aa3). ## History Morris Chang founded TSMC in February 1987 in Hsinchu, backed by Taiwan's National Development Fund with a 48.3% equity stake and Philips, which contributed process IP and patents in exchange for 27.6% equity. Starting capital was approximately US$220 million. Chang's core insight, separating chip design from fabrication, let fabless designers scale without the billions required to build a fab. Qualcomm, Nvidia, and AMD all grew under this model. TSMC listed on Taiwan's stock exchange in 1994 and launched its NYSE American Depositary Receipt program in 1997. Revenue has compounded at 18.6% annually since the 1994 listing. By the mid-2000s, TSMC was the primary supplier for Apple's A-series processors; by 2020, it had surpassed Intel in process node density, a shift that redefined which country controlled the leading edge of computing. ## Current state In fiscal 2025, TSMC reported revenue of US$122.54 billion, up 36.1% year-over-year, driven by AI accelerator demand. The N2 (2-nanometer) node entered volume production in Q4 2025 at Hsinchu and Kaohsiung facilities; N2P is targeted for H2 2026. TSMC guided full-year 2026 revenue growth above 30% in US-dollar terms. The US expansion program is the most capital-intensive story in recent semiconductor history: four Arizona fabs are reportedly fully booked, cumulative US capex has surpassed US$165 billion, and a long-term framework targets roughly US$465 billion. TSMC filed its 2025 annual report on Form 20-F with the US SEC on April 16, 2026. It paid US$15.0 billion in dividends in 2025 and has never reduced its per-share dividend since beginning payouts in 2004. ## Relationships Nvidia and Apple are widely believed to be TSMC's largest customers by revenue; both are effectively locked in at leading nodes where no credible alternative manufacturer exists at volume. [Arm's first in-house silicon](/ko/n/arm-agi-server-cpu-2026), a 136-core server processor built on TSMC's 3nm process, illustrates how even pure IP licensors now depend on TSMC manufacturing. [Intel's 14A foundry push](/ko/n/intel-14a-apple-foundry-2026) is the most discussed potential rival at the leading edge, but as of mid-2026 Intel had zero committed external customers for 14A. Geopolitically, Taiwan's government treats TSMC as a strategic anchor for the island's security calculus. The US government tied CHIPS Act subsidies to [the Arizona build-out](/ko/n/tsmc-arizona-acceleration-2026), seeking geographic diversification of advanced-node supply. The company's Hsinchu and Kaohsiung campuses remain the irreplaceable heart of the global AI hardware supply chain. ## What to watch Advanced packaging, not raw wafer capacity, is the binding constraint on AI silicon supply: TSMC's CoWoS and SoIC packaging lines pace Nvidia GPU and Apple chip production. Arizona Fab 2's 3nm ramp is scheduled for H2 2027; whether that timeline holds is the single most-watched US industrial capex milestone. TSMC Q2 2026 earnings, due mid-July 2026, will provide the first public read on whether AI demand is re-accelerating after Q1 2026's record foundry share. Progress on sub-2nm processes, including A16 and N1.4, will determine which node captures the next generation of AI platforms and who tapes out first. ## Regional takes (batched by bias / lens) ### official record - **TSMC Investor Relations** (Taiwan, en) — TSMC's official IR portal: production scale, financial KPIs, dividend history, and node roadmap. Documents more than 17 million 12-inch-equivalent wafers produced in 2025 across 534 customers and 305 technologies. Source: https://investor.tsmc.com/english - **TSMC SEC Filings Index** (Taiwan, en) — Archive of TSMC's annual Form 20-F filings (2000-2025) and quarterly 6-K filings with the US SEC; primary regulatory record for audited financials and risk disclosures. Source: https://investor.tsmc.com/english/sec-filings - **TSMC 2025 Form 20-F Filing Announcement** (Taiwan, en) — TSMC press release confirming that the 2025 annual report was filed on Form 20-F with the US SEC on April 16, 2026; official contact for the full document. Source: https://pr.tsmc.com/english/news/3300 - **TSMC Q4 2025 Earnings (US SEC Form 6-K)** (United States, en) — TSMC Q4 and full-year 2025 earnings filing with the US SEC: US$122.54 billion revenue, 36.1% year-over-year growth, 2026 full-year growth guidance above 30% in US-dollar terms. Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001046179/000104617926000008/a4q25e_withguidancexfinal.htm ## Across the graph - Related: [[tsmc-arizona-acceleration-2026]], [[intel-14a-apple-foundry-2026]], [[arm-agi-server-cpu-2026]] - Entities: Corporate:tsmc, Taiwan, Corporate:nvidia, Corporate:apple, Corporate:intel --- Canonical: https://rbtfl.xyz/ko/n/tsmc-dossier