TSMC third-quarter profit beats expectations as AI boom drives 54% hike

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company on Thursday reported a 54% hike in net profit, as global chipmakers continue to benefit from demand boosted by AI applications.

The company’s net income was 352.3 billion Taiwanese dollars ($10.1 billion) over the July-September quarter, surpassing an LSEG estimate of $300.2 billion Taiwanese dollars cited by Reuters.

TSMC is the world’s largest producer of advanced chips, serving clients such as Apple and Nvidia.

Net revenue came in at $23.5 billion in the third quarter, up 36% year-on-year, with TSMC’s gross margin rising to 57.8% over July-September, compared with 54.3% in the same period of last year.

In the third quarter, “our business was supported by strong smartphone and AI-related demand for our industry leading 3nm and 5nm technologies,” TSMC said in a statement, referencing its semiconductor nodes.

The company’s Taipei-listed shares have soared nearly 75% in the year to date.

TSCM’s capital expenditure edged higher to $6.4 billion in the third quarter, versus $6.36 billion across the three preceding months.

The Taiwanese chipmaker, whose advanced chips are vital to a swathe of products ranging from smartphones to AI applications, has been increasing its manufacturing presence worldwide, carrying out a vast overseas investment of $40 billion for two chip plants in Arizona to meet U.S. demand, as well as opening its first factory in Japan earlier this year.

TSMC’s earnings beat comes the same week as Netherlands-based ASML, which supplies machines to the Taiwanese company, issued a lower-than-expected forecast of net sales, sending shares tumbling.

Some market participants have questioned the long-term resilience of the AI boom and the return on increasing investments in the technology sector — while Young Liu, CEO and chairman of key Apple supplier Foxconn, told CNBC last week that the AI frenzy “still has some time to go,” as advanced language models evolve with each new iteration.

This breaking news story is being updated.