TSMC (NYSE: TSM) and (NASDAQ: QCOM) represent two very different ways to invest in the growing semiconductor market. TSMC is the world's largest and most advanced contract chipmaker, and it manufactures the smallest, densest, and most power-efficient chips for fabless chipmakers. Qualcomm, one of the world's leading producers of mobile chipsets and baseband modems, is one of those clients.

TSMC is a bellwether of the semiconductor market, since its foundries serve a broad range of end markets, but Qualcomm's fate is tightly tethered to the cyclical smartphone market. TSMC only generated a third of its revenue from the smartphone market in its latest quarter, while the rest came from the high-performance computing (HPC), automotive, Internet of Things (IoT), and digital consumer electronics (DCE) markets. Qualcomm still generated more than three-quarters of its chipmaking revenues from its smartphone chips and modems last quarter. 

Over the past 12 months, TSMC's stock rose 11% as Qualcomm's stock tumbled 20%. Let's see why that happened -- and if TSMC remains a better buy than Qualcomm.

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Source Fool.com