For the first time in history, TSMC has defeated Intel and Samsung to become the world's highest-grossing chipmaker. However, some experts predict that due to the strong demand for GPUs used for AI, Nvidia will win the crown of total chip revenue in 2024. TSMC has officially become the world’s highest-grossing semiconductor manufacturer, beating Intel and Samsung for the first time! Data shows that TSMC’s revenue in 2023 reached US$69.3 billion, Intel’s revenue was US$54.23 billion, and Samsung’s chip division was US$50.99 billion.


Although TSMC has been the world's No. 1 chip foundry for many years, its revenue has always been lower than that of leading memory chip makers such as Intel.

In recent years, however, things have changed.

According to observations by Taiwanese analyst Dan Nystedt, TSMC’s revenue in 2023 has exceeded Intel and Samsung.

TSMC is also ahead in terms of operating profit, which fully illustrates its continued ability to attract money as a global OEM leader.


Nystedt's figures are based on each company's calendar year revenue, not fiscal year results. It’s important to note that these revenues include each company’s earnings from other sources, not just its chip manufacturing operations.

Now, TSMC has become the world's largest chip semiconductor company.

Although 2023 has been a challenging year, TSMC's full-year revenue has reached US$69.3 billion, far exceeding Intel's US$54.23 billion and Samsung's US$50.99 billion.

According to fourth-quarter forecasts, Nvidia's annual revenue in 23 years may exceed $58 billion, surpassing Intel and Samsung, but still lagging behind TSMC.

TSMC, the new industry leader, has historically lagged behind Intel and Samsung.

But since 2020, the situation has begun to change.

The impact of the epidemic and the increase in user demand for digital products such as computers and game consoles have caused TSMC's revenue to grow sharply.

Revenues have improved significantly as TSMC is ahead of Intel and Samsung in process technology due to the higher costs of using modern production processes, allowing it to sell services at a steep premium.

TSMC does not develop its own chips, but instead manufactures the world's most advanced chips for AMD, Apple, Nvidia, Qualcomm and other foundries. Now it seems that this strategy is very successful, at least for now.


Previously, the world's top spot had always belonged to Intel.

From 1992, Intel led the semiconductor industry for decades until 2017, when Samsung surpassed Intel by a significant margin.

Samsung's semiconductor revenue depends on 3D NAND and DRAM memory prices, while Intel's main revenue comes from logic products, such as CPUs for client and data center applications.

It is worth mentioning that many of Intel's products are currently produced by TSMC.

In the future, will Intel regain market share and regain its leading position through advanced process technology and foundry service departments? That remains to be seen.

Nvidia also catches up with Samsung and Intel, but falls behind TSMC

What about NVIDIA, which has become the global computing power hegemon with its GPU sales?

The company plans to release financial results on February 21.

According to its fourth-quarter forecast, Nvidia expects revenue in 2023 to be close to US$58.82 billion, also catching up with Intel and Samsung, but still lower than TSMC.

It will earn the title of "standard" chip revenue in 2023.


(Note: Nvidia's full-year revenue estimate is based on its actual results from Q1 through Q3 plus its Q4 forecast. It's a simple calculation.)

Nvidia's fourth-quarter forecast belongs to fiscal 2024, which ends on January 28, 2024. (This can cause confusion because some companies' fiscal years differ from calendar years, but the comparison here is to calendar year results.)

Although TSMC is not usually included in mainstream top-10 semiconductor company lists because it operates primarily as a supplier and does not have its own brand of chips and only produces chips designed by Nvidia, Apple, AMD, and others, it is still important to compare it with other companies.


Shen Jung-chin, an assistant professor at York University, posted on social media: TSMC, founded in 1987, took 36 years to become not only the world's largest wafer foundry manufacturer, but also the world's largest semiconductor manufacturer.

However, when he was asked about his views on “TSMC’s prospects in 2024,” Jung-chin said, “It will become more difficult for TSMC to secure the top spot in the world. He predicted that Nvidia will win the crown of total chip revenue in 2024 due to strong demand for GPUs used for AI.

At the same time, it is also useful to understand how TSMC compares with competitors in the chip foundry field, such as No. 2 Samsung and the developing Intel.

It is worth mentioning that TSMC’s fourth-quarter revenue also led Intel and Samsung, and this was the sixth consecutive quarter.


-TSMC: US$19.55 billion

-Samsung (chip division): $16.42 billion

-Intel: $15.41 billion

Moreover, TSMC has led the way in operating profit for the eighth consecutive quarter.

-TSMC: US$8.16 billion

-Samsung: Loss of US$1.86 billion

-Intel: $2.59 billion


(Note: Samsung reports its semiconductor division’s revenue and operating profit in Korean won. Calculations for 2023 are based on an average exchange rate of 1,305.845 won to the U.S. dollar and 1,320.68 won for the fourth quarter. Both TSMC and Intel report data in U.S. dollars.)

TSMC spends $20 billion to build second largest factory in Japan

TSMC said it will build a second Japanese factory and start operating it before the end of 2027, with a total investment of more than US$20 billion.


In 2021, TSMC announced for the first time that it would invest US$7 billion to build a chip factory in Kumamoto City, Kyushu, southern Japan.

It is said that the first Japanese chip factory will open in February 2025 and start mass production in the third quarter.


Now, after US$7 billion, TSMC has added an additional US$20 billion to build factories in order to meet the growing customer demand.

TSMC said that the construction of the second factory will begin at the end of this year. It will be located close to the first factory and will add 6nm or 7nm process technology.


The company expects the combined monthly production capacity of the two factories to exceed 100,000 12-inch wafers, which can be used in automotive, industrial, consumer and high-performance computing-related applications and create more than 3,400 high-tech jobs.

Separately, it added, capacity plans may be further adjusted based on customer demand.

Bloomberg also reported that TSMC is already considering opening a third factory in Japan to use more advanced 3nm technology.