Wasn't AMD or even Intel the same sort of "startups"? Also what's so special about TSMC? I mean they were doing quite well in the 90s and early 2000s before f

Wasn't AMD or even Intel the same sort of "startups"? Also what's so special about TSMC? I mean they were doing quite well in the 90s and early 2000s before falling back behind Intel before they caught up and surpassed it this time.