Key Takeaways
- TSMC, the world’s largest manufacturer of advanced AI chips, reported a sixth consecutive quarter of record earnings.
- Net profit in the July-to-September quarter hit T$763.1 billion ($23.59 billion), up 69% from a year earlier.
- TSMC’s market capitalisation is almost double that of South Korean rival Samsung Electronics at around $2 trillion.
Taiwan’s TSMC, the world’s largest manufacturer of advanced AI chips, reported a sixth consecutive quarter of record earnings, driven by booming infrastructure spending in the tech sector. The company’s net profit in the July-to-September quarter hit T$763.1 billion ($23.59 billion), up 69% from a year earlier, exceeding market expectations.
Analysts attribute the strong performance to the robust demand for TSMC’s AI chipmaking capacity and its advanced chip packaging technology, CoWoS. This has propelled the company to new heights, making it Asia’s most valuable company and a key supplier to tech giants like Nvidia and Apple.
TSMC’s market capitalisation stands at almost double that of South Korean rival Samsung Electronics, currently valued at around $2 trillion. The company’s Taipei-listed shares closed down 2% on Thursday ahead of the earnings release, with the benchmark index off 3.4%.
TSMC is investing $265 billion to build chip factories in the US state of Arizona, including an additional $100 billion that was unveiled in July. In September, Reuters reported that TSMC was evaluating a potential investment in Texas.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk also mentioned that his companies would build and operate the Terafab AI chip complex, with TSMC potentially subleasing a part of it. On its July earnings call, the company raised its capital expenditure forecast for this year to between $60 billion and $64 billion from a previous prediction at the high end of $52 billion to $56 billion.
ASML, the world’s largest maker of tools used to make AI chips and advanced semiconductors, said on Wednesday that customers were already looking to place orders for 2029 and 2030, easing concerns that the AI investment boom was losing momentum.
TSMC’s Taipei-listed shares have gained 57% so far this year, in line with a 62% rise for the broader Taiwanese market. The company’s strong performance is expected to continue, with the upcoming call at which it will provide fourth-quarter and updated full-year guidance scheduled for 0600 GMT on Thursday.
