TSMC quarterly revenue surges to NT$1.49 trillion

SECOND-TOP MONTH: September revenue was 0.6 percent lower month-on-month, but despite the drop, it was the firm’s highest-ever sales report for the month

• By Lisa Wang / Staff reporter

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Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reported record quarterly revenue for last quarter, after sales last month hit the second-highest monthly level in the company’s history.

Revenue in the quarter ended last month was NT$1.49 trillion (US$46.75 billion), up 17 percent from NT$1.27 trillion in the second quarter and exceeding the combined prediction of 19 LSEG SmartEstimate analysts of NT$1.46 trillion.

Last quarter’s figure — which was up 12 percent from the midpoint of last year — also surpassed the company’s July estimates of US$44.6 billion to US$45.8 billion amid surging demand for the ramp-up of its advanced 2-nanometer technology, artificial intelligence (AI) chips and high-performance computing applications.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s logo is pictured at a company earnings conference in Taipei on July 16.

Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters

Last month, revenue was 0.6 percent lower month-on-month at NT$511.86 billion, the company said in a statement.

However, while the figure dropped from August, it was the highest-ever sales report for September in the company’s history.

In the first nine months of this year, cumulative revenue surged 41.1 percent to NT$3.9 trillion from NT$2.76 trillion in the same period last year, putting the company on track to hit its 40 percent annual growth target.

TSMC supplies chips to leading technology companies, including Nvidia Corp, Apple Inc and Advanced Micro Devices Inc.

The company is to disclose detailed financial figures for last quarter, as well as its business outlook for this quarter and next year during an earnings conference on Thursday next week.

At the earnings conference, the company’s overseas expansion plans and its comments on recent speculation surrounding new chip fabs in Texas would also be closely watched.

Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co (元大投顧) said that it expects TSMC’s third-quarter net profit to grow 66.5 percent year-on-year to NT$752.86 billion, compared with a 64 percent rise to NT$740.8 billion predicted by LSEG SmartEstimate.

TSMC is expected to hike capital expenditure to US$80 billion next year and US$100 billion in 2028, compared with US$60 billion to US$64 billion earmarked for this year, Yuanta said in a note on Wednesday.

This quarter, TSMC’s revenue is expected to grow 10 to 15 percent sequentially to about NT$1.66 trillion, fueled by Nvidia Corp’s new Rubin AI graphics processing units, AI custom chips and new 2-nanometer smartphone application processors, Yuanta said.

Driven by capacity constraints and strong AI-related demand, TSMC is expected to raise prices for advanced chips by 5 to 10 percent next year, and to increase prices for chips made on mature nodes by as much as 5 percent, Yuanta added.