What do Amazon Web Services and TSMC have in common? One is the cloud computing division inside the biggest e-commerce company in the world. The other is a Taiwanese state-backed semi giant. 

While these companies might seem quite different, one thing that I notice unifies them is that they provide a platform that enables other companies to succeed and exist. 

TSMC's focus on manufacturing and commitment not to compete with its customers has spawned a generation of "fabless" semiconductor companies. AWS has allowed Silicon Valley to build pure internet service companies without needing to build a data center of their own. 

For this episode, I want to look at and draw a few parallels between these two special companies. The plumbing providers of the modern internet.