Taiwan's TSMC second-quarter net profit jumps on Gen AI demand

Taiwan's TSMC second-quarter net profit jumps on Gen AI demand
By Erya HSUE with Dene-Hern CHEN in Hong Kong
Taipei (AFP) July 18, 2024

Taiwan chip giant TSMC said Thursday net profit jumped by more than a third in the second quarter of 2024, buoyed by global demand for generative artificial intelligence products.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company -- whose clients include Apple and Nvidia -- controls more than half the world's output of silicon wafers, used in everything from smartphones and cars to missiles.

Following the runaway success of ChatGPT, the company is now at the forefront of a generative AI revolution, churning out the world's most advanced microchips needed to power products made by Silicon Valley.

The firm said it made NT$247.8 billion (US$7.6 billion) in April-June, up 36 percent from NT$181.8 billion in the same period last year.

Second-quarter revenues rose 32 percent on-year to US$20.82 billion, it added in a statement.

"Our business in the second quarter was supported by strong demand for our industry-leading 3-nanometre and 5-nanometre technologies, partially offset by continued smartphone seasonality," said Wendell Huang, TSMC's CFO and senior vice president in an earnings conference.

"Moving into third quarter 2024, we expect our business to be supported by strong smartphone and AI-related demand for our leading-edge process technologies."

The company expects its third-quarter revenue to jump to $23.2 billion, above expectations, according to Bloomberg News.

It also lifted its full-year capital expenditure outlook to US$30-US$32 billion from a previous estimate of US$28-US$32 billion.

This month the company -- listed in Taiwan and New York -- briefly broke the US$1 trillion market capitalisation barrier, putting it ahead of Tesla as the seventh most valuable technology firm.

Its headquarters -- and the bulk of its fabrication plants -- are in Taiwan, a self-ruled island that China claims as part of its territory.

Beijing has in recent years ramped up military and political pressure on Taiwan, upping the rhetoric of "unification" being "inevitable".

The share price of several major AI companies -- including TSMC -- dropped Wednesday following reports that the United States was mulling strict curbs on firms that continue allowing China access to advanced chip tech.

Former US president Donald Trump -- who faces incumbent Joe Biden in a November election -- also said in a Bloomberg Businessweek report that Taiwan "should pay" the United States for defence, and lamented that it had taken "100 percent of our chip industry".

TSMC has launched new factories overseas, including three planned in the United States, while one opened in Japan this year with another on the way.

Experts called the Japan plant "the most significant TSMC international investment to open in many years".

Newly minted chairman CC Wei -- who is also CEO -- said there was "no change to our strategy" when it comes to plans for expansion in the face of future geopolitical risk.

"So far we did not change any of our original plan of expansion of our overseas fabs -- we continue to expand in Arizona and Kumamoto, and maybe in the future in Europe," he said.

"We continue our current practice."