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An Introduction to TSMC
Established in 1987 and headquartered in Hsinchu, Taiwan, TSMC pioneered the foundry business model by focusing solely on manufacturing customers’ designs. The Company does not design, manufacture or market semiconductor products under its own brand name, ensuring that it does not compete directly with its customers. Today, TSMC is the world’s largest pure-play in the semiconductor foundry business, manufacturing 8,941 different products using 228 different technologies for 470 different customers in 2015.
With such a large and diverse global customer base, TSMC-manufactured semiconductors are used in a wide variety of applications covering various segments of the computer, communications, consumer, industrial and standard semiconductor markets. Such strong diversification helps smooth fluctuations in market demand, which leads to higher levels of capacity utilization and profitability.
Annual capacity of the manufacturing facilities managed by TSMC and its subsidiaries reached above 9 million 12-inch equivalent wafers in 2015. These facilities include three 12-inch wafer GIGAFAB® facilities, four 8-inch wafer fabs, and one 6-inch wafer fab in Taiwan, as well as two 8-inch wafer fabs at wholly owned subsidiaries: WaferTech in the United States and TSMC China Company Limited. In December 2015, TSMC submitted an application to the Investment Commission of Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs (MoEA) to build a wholly-owned 12-inch wafer manufacturing facility and to start a design service center in Nanjing, China. The purpose is to enhance our access to business opportunities in China market. Pending approval from the MoEA, the investment project will commence in 2016 with production targeted in second half of 2018.
TSMC provides customer service through its account management and engineering services offices in North America, Europe, Japan, China, South Korea and India. The Company employed more than 45,000 people worldwide at the end of 2015.
TSMC’s subsidiaries TSMC Solid State Lighting Ltd. and TSMC Solar Ltd. had been formed to engage in the research, development, design, manufacturing and sale of solid state lighting devices and related products and systems, and solar-related technologies and products, respectively. In January 2015, TSMC’s board of directors approved the sale of TSMC Solid State Lighting to Epistar. Upon the closing of the sale, TSMC completely exited the LED industry. In August 2015, TSMC announced that TSMC Solar would cease manufacturing operations by end of that month, as we believed that our solar business was no longer economically sustainable. All outstanding warranties to existing customers will be honored, and all Taiwan employees were extended employment offers at TSMC.
The Company is listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) under ticker number 2330, and its American Depositary Shares (ADSs) trade on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol TSM.