Due to strong demand, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, the leading manufacturer of cutting-edge chips for artificial intelligence applications, revealed on Thursday a 54% increase in third-quarter earnings, exceeding projections.
With clients like Apple and Nvidia, the largest contract chipmaker in the world has profited from the push towards artificial intelligence (AI) across a variety of industries.
For the quarter that concluded on September 30, TSMC reported a net profit of T$325.3 billion ($10.11 billion), which was less than the T$300.2 billion estimated by an LSEG SmartEstimate that was derived from 22 analysts.
According to TSMC, sales for the third quarter increased 36% year over year to $23.5 billion, above the company's prior projection of $22.4 billion to $23.2 billion. The business said this week that its third-quarter sales, expressed in Taiwan dollars, were T$759.69 billion.
According to TSMC, capital expenditures decreased to $6.4 billion in the third quarter from $6.36 billion in the second.
As a result of persistent instability in some areas of the semiconductor market, ASML, the largest global provider of equipment for chipmaking to businesses like TSMC, predicted lower-than-projected 2025 sales and bookings on Tuesday. This news caused the shares of the Dutch company to fall to their lowest level in a single day since 1998.
Although the chipmaker has stated that the majority of manufacturing would continue in Taiwan, it is investing billions of dollars in the construction of new facilities abroad, including three sites in the U.S. state of Arizona, which will cost $65 billion.
For Taiwanese tech businesses, the second half of the year is often their busiest time of year as they try to meet demand before the end of the year holiday season in key Western markets.
Due to its vital position in Taiwan's export-dependent economy, TSMC is known as the "sacred mountain protecting the country" in colloquial language. Despite efforts by Intel and Samsung to challenge its supremacy, TSMC faces minimal competition.
(Sources: investing.com, reuters.com)
