New rivals are lining up to challenge TSMC’s chip dominance, and crypto miners should pay attention

TSMC controls over 90% of the world’s most advanced chip production. Japan’s government-backed startup Rapidus, Intel’s reinvigorated foundry ambitions, and China’s SMIC are each taking different routes toward the same destination: breaking TSMC’s stranglehold on leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing.

The challengers and their war chests

Rapidus received an additional $4 billion in state funding in April 2026, bringing its total government backing to over $16 billion. Its target is 2nm chip mass production, a node size that sits right at the frontier of what’s physically possible in semiconductor manufacturing.

Intel is advancing its own 18A process node as a direct competitor to TSMC’s offerings while simultaneously exploring potential joint ventures involving its foundry operations.

SMIC, China’s largest chipmaker, is scaling up its mature-node capacity while pushing to enhance its 7nm production capabilities. SMIC is specifically targeting Bitcoin mining ASICs as one application for its improving 7nm process.

Why TSMC’s moat is still very deep

TSMC’s dominance in 3nm and below remains unchallenged in any practical sense. No rival has confirmed high-volume production capability at these advanced nodes. Samsung, the closest historical competitor, has struggled with yield issues that have kept it firmly in second place. Previous challengers, including GlobalFoundries and UMC, eventually abandoned their pursuit of cutting-edge nodes entirely because the economics simply didn’t work.

The crypto mining connection

TSMC has historically been the primary foundry for Bitcoin ASIC manufacturers, including Bitmain, the dominant player in mining hardware. Samsung and others have also been involved in mining chip production, but TSMC’s advanced nodes have consistently delivered the best performance-per-watt ratios that miners obsess over.

SMIC’s targeted push into Bitcoin mining ASICs at 7nm represents a potential alternative supply chain for mining hardware. However, US sanctions on advanced chip equipment exports to China mean SMIC faces a ceiling on how far it can push its process technology. The 7nm chips it’s producing use older deep ultraviolet lithography rather than the extreme ultraviolet systems that TSMC employs for its most advanced nodes.

Rapidus has yet to produce a single commercial chip. Intel’s foundry business is still finding its footing. And SMIC operates with one hand tied behind its back due to export restrictions.

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