In 2015, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) was “everyone's foundry,” with revenue of US$26.6 billion and a share price of NT$143. Roughly ten years later, the company has moved through 7nm, 5nm, 3nm and 2nm without missing a generation, its 2025 revenue reached US$122 billion, and its share price closed at NT$2,410 on September 4, 2026. This article traces what TSMC built, what happened along the way, and how its results and stock moved, all in numbers.

TSMC in 2015: “Everyone's Foundry” Ramping 16nm

TSMC was already the world's largest foundry in 2015. Consolidated revenue was NT$843.5 billion (US$26.61 billion, about 4.1 trillion yen) and net income was NT$306.57 billion, both records at the time. Gross margin stood at 48.7 percent, the customer count was 470, and the company held a 55 percent share of the foundry market[1].

The technology headline was 16nm FinFET (16FF+). The company's annual report describes a record-speed ramp of 16nm that year, and 16nm plus 20nm together grew from 9 percent of wafer revenue in the prior year to 20 percent. The main earner, however, was still 28nm, where TSMC expected to keep a share above 70 percent. The 10nm node completed technology qualification during 2015, 7nm was in development toward risk production in the first half of 2017, and 5nm was still being defined[1].

Apple's A9 chip was emblematic of the era. The processor in the iPhone 6s was produced in parallel on SAMSUNG's 14nm and TSMC's 16nm. The SAMSUNG version was smaller while the TSMC version was reported to perform better, and Apple-related revenue was estimated at about US$3.7 billion[2].

This was also a period when TSMC was closing businesses other than chipmaking. It sold its LED subsidiary in 2015 and ended manufacturing at its solar business in August of that year[1]. On the Taiwan Stock Exchange, the share price closed the year at NT$143, a gain of only 1.4 percent[3].

From 7nm to 2nm: A Decade of Leadership Change and Geopolitics

In June 2018, founder Morris Chang retired after the annual shareholders' meeting, and the company moved to dual leadership with Mark Liu as Chairman and C.C. Wei as CEO[4]. In May 2020, a turning point arrived when TSMC stopped accepting new orders from Huawei following tightened U.S. export controls[5]. Even so, the Taiwan-listed shares rose 60 percent that year[3].

On December 29, 2022, TSMC held a ceremony at Fab 18 in Tainan to mark 3nm volume production and capacity expansion, announcing that 3nm had entered volume production with good yields[6]. For the stock market, however, 2022 was a headwind year, and the Taiwan shares fell 27.1 percent[3].

Overseas manufacturing expansion also took shape during this period. In Japan, the first fab of JASM, the Kumamoto subsidiary backed by Sony Semiconductor Solutions, DENSO and Toyota Motor Corporation, held its opening ceremony on February 24, 2024, and a second fab was announced the same month. Combined investment across both fabs is expected to exceed US$20 billion (about 3.1 trillion yen), with capacity of more than 100,000 12-inch wafers per month covering 40nm down to 6/7nm[7]. In the United States, the first Arizona fab entered 4nm volume production in the fourth quarter of 2024, and in March 2025 TSMC announced an additional US$100 billion, bringing total planned investment to US$165 billion (about 25.6 trillion yen), with three new fabs, two advanced packaging facilities and an R&D center[8].

The AI boom transformed how the market valued the company. In July 2024, TSMC's market capitalization topped US$1 trillion, the first Asian company to reach that mark since PetroChina in 2007[9]. Then in the fourth quarter of 2025, 2nm (N2), the company's first node using gate-all-around (GAA) transistors, entered volume production at Fab 22 in Kaohsiung. N2 is said to be 10 to 15 percent faster than N3E at the same power, and both the performance-enhanced N2P and A16 with backside power delivery are scheduled for volume production in the second half of 2026[10].

Revenue Up 4.6x, Stock Up 17x: Where TSMC Stands Now

Full-year 2025 revenue rose 35.9 percent to US$122 billion (about 18.9 trillion yen), or NT$3.8 trillion in local currency. AI accelerators alone accounted for a high-teens percentage of revenue, and the company expects growth to approach a 25 percent compound annual rate over the five years from 2024 to 2029[11]. Against 2015's US$26.6 billion, that is roughly 4.6 times.

The technology mix has been remade as well. Where 16nm and 20nm made up 20 percent of wafer revenue in 2015, the fourth quarter of 2025 saw 3nm at 28 percent, 5nm at 35 percent and 7nm at 14 percent, with advanced nodes of 7nm and below accounting for 77 percent. Gross margin had climbed to 62.3 percent[12].

The most recent quarter, the second quarter of 2026, pushed the numbers higher still. Revenue was NT$1,270.38 billion (US$40.2 billion, about 6.2 trillion yen), up 36 percent year over year, and net income was NT$706.56 billion (about 3.5 trillion yen), up 77.4 percent, with a gross margin of 67.7 percent and an operating margin of 60.3 percent. In that quarter, 2nm already accounted for 3 percent of wafer revenue. Third-quarter revenue guidance is US$44.6 billion to US$45.8 billion (about 6.9 to 7.1 trillion yen)[13]. By platform, HPC made up 66 percent of revenue and smartphones 22 percent, and the 2026 capital expenditure plan was raised to US$60 billion to US$64 billion (about 9.3 to 9.9 trillion yen). At the same earnings release, C.C. Wei announced an additional US$100 billion (about 15.5 trillion yen) for Arizona, taking total committed investment in the state to US$265 billion (about 41 trillion yen)[14]. On a monthly basis, July revenue was NT$467.58 billion (about 2.3 trillion yen), up 44.7 percent from a year earlier, and the company's outlook calls for full-year 2026 growth of slightly above 40 percent in U.S. dollar terms[15].

The share price reflects these results. Year-end closes on the Taiwan Stock Exchange stepped up from NT$143 (about 715 yen) in 2015 to NT$530 in 2020, NT$1,075 in 2024 and NT$1,550 in 2025, and the September 4, 2026 close was NT$2,410 (about 12,000 yen). That is a 55.5 percent gain year to date and a 1,281 percent rise over the past ten years. The path was not a straight line, though: 2018 ended down 1.7 percent and 2022 down 27.1 percent[3]. The New York-listed ADR closed at US$428.91 (about 66,000 yen) on September 4, giving a market capitalization of US$1.98 trillion (about 307 trillion yen)[16]. Considering that the dividend-adjusted average ADR price in 2015 was around US$17.5, the ADR too has risen more than 20-fold[17].

Summary

In 2015, TSMC was a contract manufacturer that had just ramped 16nm, with a gross margin of 48.7 percent. Ten years on, it mass-produces 2nm, runs a gross margin of 67.7 percent, and shoulders the bulk of AI-related demand. In between, the founder stepped down, supply to Huawei was cut off, and fabs spread to Kumamoto and Arizona. Revenue grew about 4.6 times and the Taiwan share price about 17 times, though 2018 and 2022 were down years. The signals to watch for the next decade are A16 in the second half of 2026 and the outcome of an Arizona investment that has swelled to US$265 billion.

※Exchange rates (as of September 4, 2026): US$1 = 155 yen, NT$1 = 5.0 yen

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