Updated Version 2 - Benefiting from the artificial intelligence boom, TSMC has set a new profit record for the sixth consecutive quarter.

Profit data updated, involving paragraphs 1 and 4

Wen-Yee Lee/Ben Blanchard

Reuters Taipei, October 15 - As the world’s largest advanced AI chip maker, TSMC announced its sixth consecutive quarter of record profit on Thursday, mainly driven by strong growth in infrastructure spending in the technology sector.

Analysts said that demand remains strong for TSMC’s 2330.TW AI chip manufacturing capacity, as well as for its advanced chip packaging technology, CoWoS.

This has propelled the company—the most valuable in Asia and a key supplier to NVIDIA NVDA.O and Apple AAPL.O—to new heights. Its market capitalization is around USD 2 trillion, almost double that of South Korean rival Samsung Electronics 005930.KS.

TSMC stated that net profit for the July-September quarter reached TWD 763.1 billion (USD 23.59 billion), up 69% from a year earlier, surpassing the TWD 746.3 billion expected in LSEG SmartEstimate’s forecast from 16 analysts.

The company is scheduled to hold a conference call at GMT 06:00, during which it will announce fourth quarter results and an update to its full-year guidance. With concerns that the US Federal Reserve (Fed) could further raise interest rates on Wednesday, which might negatively impact AI stocks sensitive to borrowing costs, investors will be watching this call closely.

Prior to the earnings announcement, TSMC’s shares listed on the Taipei Stock Exchange closed down 2% on Thursday, while Taiwan's Weighted Index .TWII fell 3.4%.

This result marked TSMC’s highest quarterly net profit ever and realized its 11th consecutive quarter of profit growth.

Last week, the company reported third quarter revenue (link) rose 50% from a year earlier, beating market expectations and setting a new record.

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TSMC is investing USD 265 billion to build a chip plant in Arizona, including an additional USD 100 billion investment announced in July.

In September, Reuters reported that TSMC is assessing (link) potential investment in Texas. Tesla CEO Elon Musk also stated last week that his companies will build and operate a Terafab AI chip campus, and TSMC may rent part of it.

In the July earnings call, the company raised its capital expenditure forecast for this year to a range of USD 60 billion–64 billion, up from the previous upper limit of USD 56 billion in the earlier USD 52 billion–56 billion range.

ASML (link) ASML.AS, the world’s largest maker of AI chips and advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment, said Wednesday that customers have already started placing orders for 2029 and 2030, easing concerns that the AI investment boom is fading.

TSMC’s shares on the Taipei Stock Exchange have risen 57% so far this year, in line with the Taiwan main index's 62% gain.

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(USD 1 = TWD 32.3450)

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