SEMICONDUCTORS
AI CHIPS
How AI Chip Demand Took TSMC Quarterly Revenue to US$39bn
TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker, has posted a record-breaking second-quarter revenue of US$39.62bn, as surging global demand for AI hardware pushes the Taiwanese manufacturer to new heights and accelerates its worldwide expansion plans.
A Record-Breaking Quarter
Taiwan sits at the centre of the global AI boom, home to TSMC, a major supplier to companies including NVIDIA and Apple. The chipmaker's second-quarter revenue surged 36% year-on-year to a record high.
Calculations from Reuters put revenue at T$1.27tn (US$39.62bn), slightly above a T$1.264tn LSEG SmartEstimate drawn from 20 analysts. The milestone follows a string of stellar quarterly performances as the company continues to capitalise on soaring computational workloads.
Outperforming Financial Forecasts
On its last earnings call in April, TSMC had predicted second-quarter revenue of between US$39bn and US$40.2bn. The company reported that revenue for June alone rose 67.9% year-on-year to T$442.68bn (US$13.79bn), up 6.2% compared with the previous month.
Despite the strong figures, Asia's most valuable publicly listed company - which carries a market capitalisation of US$1.955tn - did not provide further details or forward guidance in its brief revenue statement. TSMC is scheduled to report full second-quarter earnings on 16 July, when it will update its outlook for the current quarter and the rest of the year. Analysts expect the company to report a 58.8% on-year rise in net profit.
TSMC's Taipei-listed shares closed up 1% on Monday ahead of the release of the sales data, while the broader market closed flat. The stock has climbed 57% so far this year, in line with the wider market.
Expanding in Southern Taiwan
In April, following a first-quarter revenue increase of 35.1%, TSMC said it would accelerate its multi-billion-dollar expansion at its Arizona semiconductor manufacturing site, which includes six wafer fabs designed to better serve AI companies requiring cutting-edge manufacturing.
The chipmaker is now doubling down on the south of the island too, adding two more advanced chip packaging plants at the Chiayi Science Park to meet rising demand, pushing the site's total to four facilities. According to the National Science and Technology Council, once complete, the industrial complex is expected to produce more than NT$300bn (US$9.35bn) annually and create over 9,000 new jobs.
The site has become one of TSMC's main centres for packaging advanced chips using its chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) process technology - a process now essential for the high-performance chips required by AI hardware makers such as NVIDIA, which is ordering more than the available supply.
Key Takeaways
- →TSMC's Q2 revenue surged 36% year-on-year to a record US$39.62bn, beating analyst estimates.
- →The result exceeded TSMC's own April guidance of US$39bn-US$40.2bn.
- →Analysts forecast a 58.8% year-on-year rise in net profit, with full earnings due 16 July.
- →TSMC is accelerating expansion in Arizona and adding two new packaging plants in Chiayi, Taiwan.
- →The completed Chiayi complex is projected to generate over NT$300bn (US$9.35bn) annually and create 9,000+ jobs.
- →Demand for TSMC's CoWoS advanced packaging technology, driven by NVIDIA and others, continues to outstrip supply.
Tags:
AI Chips
Semiconductors
Manufacturing
Supply and Demand
TSMC
NVIDIA
Earnings
