TSMC is now the world's largest chip maker by revenue
TSMC sales hit $69.3bn in 2023 to beat Intel and Samsung for the first time, says influential industry analyst.
Teipei-based market watcher Dan Nystedt has been tracking the performance of the world's biggest chip firms for years, and he has just reported that TSMC has finally taken the top spot.
According to his data, TSMC earned USD 69.3 billion in 2023, against USD 54.23 billion for Intel and USD 50.99 billion for Samsung. Nystedt says this is the first change the top since Samsung deposed Intel in 2017. Prior to that, Intel enjoyed 25 years as number one, after taking over from NEC in 1992.
The news obviously reflects changes in the structure of the semiconductor business – away from integrated device manufacture and towards the separation of chip design from chip making. TSMC does not sell self-branded processors. Instead, it manufactures them for fabless clients such as Apple, AMD, Nvidia, and Qualcomm.
The news completes a busy week for TSMC. It has just reported strong January sales, up 7.9% to USD 6.9 billion. And it is projecting revenue growth of at least 8% in the March quarter.
It also announced that it will open a second chip fabrication plant in Japan in partnership with Sony and Toyota. The new factory will come online in late 2027, and bring total investment in Japan past USD 20 billion.
