TSMC Poised to Surpass Intel as World's Largest Semiconductor Employer

TSMC is on track to surpass Intel as the world's largest semiconductor employer for the first time in history, marking a significant shift in the industry landscape. While Intel has long held the position as the biggest semiconductor company by both revenue and headcount, years of aggressive hiring at TSMC combined with substantial layoffs at Intel have reversed this dynamic.

(Image credit: TSMC)

As of December 27, 2025, Intel employed 85,100 people following significant job cuts in 2024 and 2025. In contrast, TSMC reported 83,825 full-time employees as of December 31, 2024, after years of aggressive hiring to support its expansion both overseas and within Taiwan. Industry analysts expect TSMC's employee count to exceed 83,825 when it publishes its annual report in mid-April, officially making it the largest semiconductor employer globally.

To put these numbers in perspective, AMD employed approximately 31,000 full-time employees by the end of 2025, Nvidia had around 36,000 full-time workers at the end of its fiscal 2025 (calendar 2024), Qualcomm had about 52,000 employees as of September 2025, Apple ended its fiscal year 2025 with 166,000 full-time equivalent employees, and Arm had roughly 8,330 full-time equivalents as of March 31, 2025.

This shift is particularly noteworthy because Intel is one of the few semiconductor companies actively reducing headcount in 2024-2025, while most competitors are expanding. The contrast between Intel's contraction and TSMC's growth reflects broader industry trends and strategic differences between the two companies.

Comparing Intel to other semiconductor companies isn't a straightforward apples-to-apples comparison. Intel remains one of the few integrated design manufacturers (IDMs) that still produces chips on leading-edge process technology in-house. TSMC, as the world's largest contract chipmaker, operates more fabs and packaging facilities than Intel currently does, which explains its larger workforce dedicated to manufacturing operations.

However, TSMC doesn't develop its own products, while companies like AMD, Apple, Nvidia, and Qualcomm focus entirely on product development without in-house manufacturing. This fundamental difference in business models makes direct headcount comparisons somewhat misleading, though the milestone remains symbolically important.

Intel's employee count has historically been justified by its diverse operations. The company maintains and operates multiple fabs and packaging facilities worldwide, conducts extensive R&D for process technologies (a capability shared only with TSMC among its rivals), designs multiple product lines, and develops technologies that become industry standards. Intel's contributions to standards like DDR, PCIe, USB, and Thunderbolt demonstrate the breadth of its technical work.

Despite recent layoffs, Intel's research and development spending remains substantial. Even after sharp cuts in fiscal 2025, Intel spent $13.8 billion on R&D, exceeding the spending of AMD, TSMC, and Qualcomm. While Nvidia has yet to report its fiscal 2026 results (corresponding to calendar 2025), it's expected to eventually surpass Intel's R&D spending, marking the first time this has ever occurred.

Apple has outspent Intel on R&D since 2018, though Apple's spending focuses primarily on product development rather than semiconductor manufacturing technology, making the comparison less relevant for assessing competitive positioning in chip manufacturing.

With approximately 40,000 positions eliminated over two years, Intel is unlikely to maintain its 2025 R&D investment levels. The company has shut down or merged dozens of projects alongside workforce reductions, and further cuts to R&D expenses are expected in 2026. Industry observers are watching to see whether Intel's R&D budget this year will match that of AMD and TSMC, or remain ahead of both companies.

R&D spending serves as both a benchmark for financial health and an indicator of future competitiveness. For Intel to remain relevant in the late 2020s and early 2030s, it must invest in developing competitive products against AMD, Nvidia, and Qualcomm, as well as next-generation process technologies to compete with TSMC. In an ideal scenario, Intel would need to outspend all its competitors combined, as it did during 2014-2019, to maintain its leadership position.

However, given Intel's recent business exits in areas like 5G, modems, 3D NAND, Optane, and servers, the company's R&D budget may need to align more closely with the combined spending of AMD and TSMC, its two primary rivals in products and foundry operations. The coming years will reveal whether Intel can maintain its technological relevance with its current resource allocation, or whether the company will continue its transition from industry leader to follower in the rapidly evolving semiconductor landscape.