A chip in every device
Every smartphone, laptop, smartwatch or electric car runs on chips. But did you know that more than 90% of the world's most advanced chips come from one factory in Taiwan? That factory belongs to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, better known as TSMC. Without TSMC, Apple wouldn't make iPhones, NVIDIA wouldn't build AI chips and Elon Musk wouldn't be able to drive his robot cars. While the world watches the Silicon Valley tech giants, TSMC is quietly building the foundation of our digital future.
The birth of a giant
TSMC was founded in 1987 by Morris Chang, a brilliant engineer with a dream: a factory that makes chips for others. Revolutionary at the time - until then, large companies built their own chips. Chang's idea was to set up a factory that only manufactured, not designed. That way smaller design companies could have their chips built without investing billions in machinery. It worked. Today, with more than 70,000 employees and revenues of more than $100 billion (2024), TSMC is the factory that runs the digital world.
Why TSMC matters
The secret to TSMC's dominance lies in precision and scale. The latest chips are made at a scale of 2 nanometers - that's 30,000 times thinner than a human hair. Only TSMC (and partly Samsung) masters this technology on a massive scale. Apple trusts TSMC completely for its A- and M-series chips. AMD, NVIDIA and even Intel outsource production to TSMC. Without their factories in Taiwan and Arizona AI would shut down, data centers would falter, and the global economy would slow down.
Between innovation and geopolitics
But there is also tension. Taiwan is only 160 kilometers from mainland China, and TSMC would like to own that country. That makes TSMC not just a business, but a geopolitical lever. The United States considers TSMC "critical infrastructure." That's why TSMC is investing $40 billion in new plants in Arizona, under pressure from Washington. In Europe, there will be a plant in Germany. But the most advanced chips? Those will continue to be made only in Taiwan for now.
Climate, chips and sustainability
Chip production is energy-intensive and water-dependent. One TSMC megaplant consumes more water daily than all consumers in Paramaribo combined. For Taiwan, which regularly suffers from drought, this raises concerns. Customers such as Apple and NVIDIA are demanding that TSMC take steps to reduce its pressure on the environment. Accordingly, it plans to switch to green power and water recycling. By 2050, the company should be climate neutral.
What TSMC teaches us
TSMC is proving that power is not always loud. While others flaunt apps and AI, TSMC invisibly builds the backbone of all things digital. Morris Chang once said, "Without TSMC, the modern world would stall." And he was right.
