A semiconductor manufacturer that makes chips for other companies. Foundries make most of the chips in the world for hundreds of "fabless" companies that design the circuits but do not manufacture the chips, including some of the most well-known tech leaders such as Qualcomm, NVIDIA and Apple. However, a large chip maker that designs and makes its own chips may sell excess manufacturing capacity and function as a foundry from time to time (see
IDM). See
fab.
A Foundry Is a Fab
The terms foundry and "fab" are used synonymously; however, a fab is a manufacturing plant that makes chips. A foundry makes chips for other companies. Therefore, a foundry is also a fab, but a fab may not be a foundry if it designs its own chips and makes them.
It Takes Manufacturing Expertise
Founded by Morris Chang in 1987, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (TSMC) was the first "pure-play" foundry, which was created to make chips only for other companies. The expertise required to design a chip versus making the chips is very different. See
TSMC,
chip feature size,
chip and
chip manufacturing.