Intel had the manufacturing edge for a long time. Things change. Just because one company is up now doesn't mean it will be up forever.<p>I think one thing TSMC does better than intel is they have a more long term view. They aren't as concerned about hitting next quarters earnings. Their single biggest shareholder is the government of Taiwan. One of their board members a is Taiwanese minister, So I think the government wants to make sure TSMC is around for the long term. They also provide a lot of jobs in Taiwan. If have ever been to Hsinchu you could see how many jobs the semi industry provides. Everything from engineers to more blue color workers.
TSMC is in a league of its own. Only Samsung currently has the capacity to compete on a similarly international level. There are a variety of startup competitors from mostly China and the US, but TSMC is so technologically advanced, and the demand for ever faster chips is so great, that they will easily retain the dominant global position for at least the duration of the 2020's.
>Today’s TSMC’s monopoly is probably the result of a 40 years relationships with partners, with tight relationship and trust between each others.<p>From the following link:<p><a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Technology/TSMC-and-Google-push-chipmaking-boundaries-with-3D-stacking" rel="nofollow">https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Technology/TSMC-and-Google-...</a><p><i>Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is working with Google and other U.S. tech giants to develop a new way of making semiconductors more powerful.</i><p>It seems they're getting some help (how much?) from companies like Google, AMD, NVIDIA, Apple, etc when it comes to chip packaging.
>The world needs (and want) better semiconductors<p>Does it really? What kind of exclusive capabilities would humanity meaningfully lose if we regressed back to 14nm? Ray tracing?<p>More realistic title is lack of foresight allowed Taiwan to monopolize leading fab production for next 5-10 years. A mistake every major party is rapidly correcting. TSMC is one US sanction or one Chinese glitterbomb away from being irrelevant. Long term money is on Samsung.
>The world’s current and next innovations depend on a single country: Taiwan. It’s probably one country you might never hear about, or perhaps confuse with its neighbor, Thailand, or even think it’s a part of China.<p>>I’ve been living in Taiwan for 3+ years, and am baffled that I never pay attention to semiconductors.<p>I can't imagine how baffled he's going to be when he discovers Taiwan considers itself part of China.