TSMC calls AI demand &#x27;endless&#x27; as chipmaker commits $56 billion to fuel sustained AI boom

TSMC's Record Quarter: The Numbers Wall Street Is Overlooking - Taiwan Semiconductor (NYSE:TSM)

Taiwan Semiconductor (NYSE:TSM) posted this Thursday the kind of quarter that usually ends the debate. The numbers were undeniable: $16 billion in profit, 35% year-over-year growth, and forward guidance aggressive enough to pull semiconductor equipment maker ASML up 7% in sympathy. Many saw TSMC the undisputed king of the AI revolution, and analysts scrambled to raise price targets. On the surface, the narrative is simple: TSMC makes the chips that power AI, AI is booming, therefore TSMC wins. But if you strip away the headline euphoria and dig into the earnings transcript, a more nuanced reality emerges. TSMC isn't just growing; it is undergoing a fundamental shift in its business model. The old rules of how TSMC makes money (and who it relies on) are being rewritten in real-time. For investors, the story isn't about whether TSMC is a "good" company (the numbers answer that). It's about understanding the new, complex machine that is being built under the hood. The "Two-Tiered" Economy The most significant detail that got buried under the avalanche of profit headlines was a strategic tweak to pricing. Effective January 1st, TSMC implemented tiered price increases of 3-10% across its advanced nodes. Price hikes are standard in business, but the distribution of these hikes reveals exactly how TSMC views its leverage. High-performance computing and AI customers were hit with increases near the 10% ceiling. Smartphone processor clients, however, saw hikes closer to 5%. This wasn't an arbitrary decision; it was a calculated recognition of customer economics. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang recently endorsed these hikes, famously calling TSMC's chips "underpriced." When you are selling H100 GPUs with gross margins rivaling luxury software, a 10% increase in wafer costs is a rounding error. Nvidia can absorb that cost without blinking. Qualcomm and MediaTek live in a different reality. When you account for their specific chip designs and volume requirements, their effective cost increases are hovering between 16% and 24%. Unlike Nvidia, they cannot easily pass these costs on to smartphone consumers who are already fatigued by high prices. Think of this like a commercial landlord managing a high-end shopping mall. For years, the landlord charged everyone roughly the same rent per square foot. Now, they've realized that the luxury boutique selling $5,000 handbags (AI) can afford to pay double the rent of the struggling department store (Smartphones). TSMC is essentially bifurcating its customer base: those who need the chips at any price, and those who are price-sensitive. It's a brilliant strategy for 2026, but it brings a new risk. If Samsung manages to close the gap on advanced manufacturing yield, or if geopolitical winds shift, TSMC's pricing power over that "struggling department store" segment could evaporate quickly. The Changing of the Guard: Apple Steps Back For two decades, Apple has been the sun around which TSMC's orbit revolved. The relationship was symbiotic and predictable: Apple would act as the "anchor tenant," committing to massive orders for every new manufacturing process. This funding helped TSMC survive the expensive ramp-up period of new nodes. That era is quietly ending. While Apple's spending with TSMC is still massive, growing from $2 billion in 2014 to $24 billion in 2025, its slice of the pie is shrinking. Apple's share of TSMC's total revenue has dipped from 25% to 20%. More telling is the allocation of future technology. By late 2027, projections suggest Nvidia will consume more cutting-edge 3-nanometer wafers than Apple. Even more historic: on TSMC's upcoming 2-nanometer node, Apple's allocation sits at 48%. This marks the first time since 2011 that Apple has dropped below 50% allocation on a flagship node. Why does this matter to your portfolio? Volatility. Apple provided TSMC with the predictability of the annual iPhone cycle. It was a steady, metronomic beat that smoothed out the notorious boom-and-bust cycles of the chip industry. TSMC is now tilting toward Nvidia, AMD, and cloud hyperscalers. These companies operate on capital expenditure cycles that are far more erratic. They can double orders overnight, but they can also cut them just as fast if infrastructure buildouts pause. The business isn't getting worse, but the earnings ride is about to get bumpier. The "Michelin Chef" Problem In November, TSMC's CEO made a frank admission: the company's advanced-node capacity is "about three times short" of customer demand. This is the central paradox of TSMC's current valuation. The company is not constrained by how many chips it can sell; it is constrained by physical limits. In 2025, TSMC allocated roughly 28% of its total wafer capacity to AI chips, yet those advanced 3nm and 5nm nodes generated 74% of total revenue. They are running the engines at maximum capacity. It's the classic "Michelin Chef" problem. Imagine the world's most popular restaurant. There is a line of wealthy patrons wrapping around the block, waving cash. But the kitchen only has four stoves and one head chef. It doesn't matter how high the demand goes; you cannot plate more dinners than the kitchen can physically cook. TSMC's guidance for 30% revenue growth in 2026 isn't a forecast of market demand, but a forecast of maximum kitchen output. The $52-56 billion capital spending plan is an attempt to build a bigger kitchen, but fabs take years to build and calibrate. Capacity will lag demand through at least 2027. This lack of slack in the system changes the risk profile. If a geopolitical event forces a reallocation of production, let's say, new export restrictions or trade policy shifts, then TSMC has no "spare tires." They cannot simply ramp up production elsewhere to compensate. The constraint shifts from sales to execution. The 2-Nanometer Reality Check Wall Street loves a linear chart, and right now, markets are pricing in substantial revenue from the next-generation 2-nanometer chips as early as 2026. However, the engineering reality suggests a slower burn. Previous transitions (like 7nm to 5nm) took about two years. TSMC is signaling that the move from 3nm to 2nm is a harder physics problem, likely taking closer to three years to fully ramp. The company projects roughly 220,000 2-nanometer wafers monthly by the end of 2026. Some analyst models, however, show 2nm revenue overtaking 3nm and 5nm combined by Q3 2026. For that to happen, adoption rates would need to shatter every historical precedent at a time when competition for allocation is fiercer than ever. Either TSMC is sandbagging its guidance to engineer a "beat and raise," or the market is getting ahead of the physics. The Margin Squeeze TSMC posted a gross margin of 62.3% in Q4, beating its own guidance. It was a stellar performance. But looking ahead, the "cost of doing business" is rising faster than revenue. Capital expenditures (capex) are growing 32% year-over-year, while revenue is growing at 30%. TSMC is effectively spending more money to generate each incremental dollar of revenue. Much of this is due to the overseas expansion. Building fabs in Arizona, Japan, and Germany is a geopolitical necessity to satisfy western governments, but it is financially inefficient. A dollar of capex deployed in Arizona generates a lower initial return than a dollar deployed in Taiwan. As these new facilities come online, they could drag on TSMC's return on invested capital (ROIC), potentially compressing it by 300-500 basis points by 2028. The Investor Takeaway TSMC remains a fortress. It has the widest moat in technology and is the indispensable utility provider for the AI age. But the investment thesis has evolved. The stock's recent rally prices in a "Goldilocks" scenario: customers accepting price hikes without pushback, the 2nm node ramping faster than history suggests, and geopolitical tensions remaining dormant. Smart investors should look past the headline beats in the coming quarters. Watch the Q1 gross margin realization. Watch the utilization rates at the new Arizona plant. And pay close attention to whether the "smartphone tier" of customers starts flirting with Samsung. TSMC is undoubtedly the winner of the current cycle. But in the stock market, the difference between a good company and a good trade often comes down to the price you pay for the risks you don't see. Right now, the market isn't looking very hard at the risks. Benzinga Disclaimer: This article is from an unpaid external contributor. It does not represent Benzinga's reporting and has not been edited for content or accuracy. TSMTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd$343.130.44%OverviewMarket News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

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The World's Most Important Chipmaker Just Confirmed the AI Megatrend Is Real

TSMC is finally ramping up capital spending in response to incredible demand for AI accelerators. Is artificial intelligence a bubble? Does the demand for the technology justify the massive capital investment in AI data centers? While the answers to those questions still aren't clear, Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM +0.22%) Chairman and CEO C.C. Wei now appears convinced that AI is a big deal. TSMC reported stellar results for the fourth quarter of 2025. Revenue rose 20.5% year over year, net income jumped 35%, and the company provided solid guidance for 2026 based on persistently strong demand. TSMC sees revenue growing by nearly 30% this year, with a 25% compound annual growth rate through 2029. A major driver behind that forecast is demand for AI accelerators. Through 2029, TSMC expects AI accelerator revenue to grow by at least 50% annually. Major players in the AI industry have reportedly been frustrated by TSMC's sluggish expansion, given the booming demand for AI chips and the chronic shortage of advanced semiconductor manufacturing capacity to produce them. TSMC tends to be conservative and risk-averse, but the company is now ramping up spending after becoming more comfortable with the future demand picture. TSMC isn't going all out, but it's increasing its capital spending to pursue the AI opportunity. "AI is real" For TSMC, worrying about an AI bubble makes a lot of sense. Building new leading-edge semiconductor foundries takes years and consumes many billions of dollars in capital. If TSMC is overly optimistic and overbuilds, its profitability could suffer tremendously. "I'm also very nervous about it. You bet," said Wei in response to an analyst question about the trajectory of AI demand. Wei continued, saying that if the company wasn't careful with its capital spending, it would be a "big disaster" for TSMC. While TSMC continues to take a conservative approach, Wei has spent the past few months talking to TSMC's customers and the customers of those customers. The aim of these discussions was to gauge whether AI demand was real. In other words, is AI actually helping these businesses? Wei's conclusion is that "AI is real," calling it an "AI megatrend." TSMC's customers are chip designers like Nvidia and AMD, while its customers' customers are hyperscale cloud providers and other buyers of AI accelerators. The financial status of those hyperscalers also gave Wei come confidence. "They are very rich," Wei said. Another data point is TSMC's own use of AI. Wei noted that the company is using AI to improve the productivity of its fabs, achieving 1% to 2% gains at essentially no cost. Wei didn't go into any details about those productivity gains. Given the company's newfound confidence in the durability of AI demand, TSMC said it expects to spend between $52 billion and $56 billion in capital expenditures this year. For comparison, TSMC's capex in 2025 was around $40 billion. The company also expects capital spending to increase further over the next few years. TSMC is also pulling forward the start of production at its second fab in Arizona to help meet demand. The company now expects high-volume manufacturing to begin in the second half of 2027, and it recently purchased a second plot of land to support future expansion. Risks remain for TSMC The semiconductor industry goes through cycles, but the current AI-driven cycle is a different animal. Wei noted that strong demand from the AI industry looks like it will go on for many years, calling it "endless." While there's no question that demand for AI accelerators is extremely strong right now as hyperscalers plan and build massive AI data centers, TSMC is still taking some risk by ramping up its capital spending. If you go down the chain of customers to the next layer, to companies buying AI computing capacity from the hyperscalers, the demand picture is far more muddled. AI companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI are burning cash at an incredible rate, partly to support massive user bases that don't pay the companies a dime. OpenAI reportedly has more than 800 million users for ChatGPT, but only a small percentage are on a paid plan. OpenAI reportedly plans to burn through $115 billion in cash through 2029, and xAI is reportedly incinerating nearly $1 billion in cash per month. For TSMC, the sustainability of this spending is the biggest risk. Businesses and individuals are certainly using AI for real, productive purposes. However, it's not clear how much demand for AI computing capacity, and thus demand for AI accelerators, and thus demand for TSMC's manufacturing capacity, is being propped up by unsustainable spending from AI companies. TMSC is still being fairly conservative despite the capital spending increase. The company may be leaving money on the table over the next few years, but its caution is ultimately a good thing for investors. If AI is a bubble and it pops, TSMC will get hit, but not as badly as it would if it had recklessly expanded production. For at least the next few years, TSMC's revenue is likely to grow at a blistering rate thanks to AI. After that, it remains anyone's guess.

[18]

TSMC fourth-quarter profit leaps to record driven by AI boom

Benefiting from surging demand for advanced chips used in artificial intelligence applications, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co said net profit for October-December climbed to T$505.7 billion ($16 billion), its seventh straight quarter of double-digit growth. TSMC, the world's main producer of advanced AI chips and a major supplier to Nvidia, on Thursday posted a 35% jump in fourth-quarter profit to record levels that handily beat market forecasts on Thursday. Benefiting from surging demand for advanced chips used in artificial intelligence applications, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co said net profit for October-December climbed to T$505.7 billion ($16 billion), its seventh straight quarter of double-digit growth. That was well ahead of a T$478.4 billion LSEG SmartEstimate drawn from 20 analysts. SmartEstimates are weighted toward forecasts from analysts who are more consistently accurate. Trump's trade policies and threats to put tariffs on semiconductors have created much uncertainty for the global chip industry, though that uncertainty has yet to seriously impair surging profits on the back of the AI boom. TSMC said capital spending last year hit $40.9 billion, versus a previous company forecast of $40-42 billion. It announced plans for a $100 billion U.S. investment with Trump at the White House in ⁠March last year, ⁠on top of $65 billion pledged for three plants in the state of Arizona, one of which is up and running. U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said in a podcast released last week the company was set to invest more in the country. ($1 = 31.5920 Taiwan dollars) (Reporting by Wen-Yee Lee, Faith Hung and Yimou Lee; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)

[19]

TSMC Q4 Blowout Starts Chain Reaction -- CoreWeave, Nebius Lead FOMO - CoreWeave (NASDAQ:CRWV), Nebius Group (NASDAQ:NBIS), Taiwan Semiconductor (NYSE:TSM)

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (NYSE:TSM) posted a blowout Q4 earnings report on Thursday and sent a clear signal to the markets: AI demand is strong and growing. As the exclusive manufacturer of NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) GPUs, TSMC reported a 35% jump in net profit, crushing analyst estimates and proving that the AI gold rush is still on. CRWV stock is climbing. See the chart and price action here. The Neocloud Lifeline For neocloud providers like CoreWeave, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWV) and Nebius Group N.V. (NASDAQ:NBIS), TSMC's results are a validation of their business model -- to secure massive allocations of Nvidia's Blackwell and upcoming Rubin architectures (manufactured on TSMC's 3nm and 2nm nodes) to provide the specialized compute power that hyperscalers often lack. Because their entire value proposition rests on the availability of cutting-edge AI chips, the blockbuster quarter and forward guidance from TSMC alleviates two major risks: Supply Security: Record manufacturing yields and capacity expansion mean Coreweave and Nebius can fulfill their multibillion-dollar backlogs. Demand Strength: When the world's largest foundry raises its 2026 capex to between $52 billion and $56 billion, it signals that tech companies are still placing massive, long-term orders for AI chips. Bursting The "AI Bubble" Narrative The AI bubble fears have been largely quieted by TSMC's quarterly report and the sheer scale of margins. With a gross margin of 62.3%, TSMC proved that the industry is not just growing, but doing so with immense profitability. Taiwan Semiconductor CEO C.C. Wei's declaration that "AI is real" is backed by the fact that its High-Performance Computing (HPC) segment accounts for 55% of total revenue. The takeaway for CoreWeave and Nebius investors is that the primary constraint on their growth is supply, not demand. TSMC's record-breaking production capacity suggests that neocloud providers will have the consistent access to chips necessary to service their expanding backlogs through 2026. Photo: Shutterstock CRWVCoreWeave Inc$97.468.53%OverviewNBISNebius Group NV$106.984.90%TSMTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd$344.535.33%NVDANVIDIA Corp$189.013.21%Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

[20]

TSMC Just Gave Investors a Glimpse of What's Ahead for Nvidia in 2026

Nvidia's earnings and stock price have soared in recent years. Nvidia (NVDA +0.45%) has been one of the most successful tech companies on the planet in recent years. This is because the company noticed the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) early on and decided to take action. Nvidia focused the design of its graphics processing units (GPUs) to serve the needs of AI customers, and this proved to be a game-changing move. As a result, Nvidia's earnings have soared in the double and triple digits, and the stock has skyrocketed too. In spite of this excellent performance, though, investors have wondered how long this momentum may continue. Spending on AI has marched higher, and investors worry that any slowdown could deal a blow to Nvidia and others in the space. But uncertainty may not last for very long: Just this week, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM +0.50%) offered investors a glimpse of what's ahead for Nvidia in 2026. Nvidia's AI leadership Before we dive in, let's take a quick look back at the Nvidia story in recent quarters. As mentioned, Nvidia has built a leadership position in GPUs for AI, as they fuel key processes such as the training and inference of models. The company has also built out an entire portfolio of complementary products and services, and this has helped it become the key player in this fast-growing industry. In the most recent quarter, Nvidia reported a 62% increase in revenue to $57 billion and spoke of soaring demand for its latest system, Blackwell Ultra. The company also has maintained high profitability on sales, with gross margin regularly surpassing 70%. Investors have cheered on this performance, piling into the stock and driving it to a 900% increase over the past three years. But late last year, as valuations of AI stocks and stocks in general reached high levels, investors started to worry about the possibility of an AI bubble. This weighed on the market in the month of November, but since then, concerns have eased, and many AI stocks have rebounded. Now, let's consider TSMC's relationship with Nvidia and what the company's message has to say about Nvidia's path in 2026. TSMC is a key part of the Nvidia story, and that's because the company manufactures Nvidia's chips. Nvidia designs them but relies on this major manufacturer to bring them from the drawing board to reality. TSMC's role in the AI chip market And TSMC doesn't work uniquely with Nvidia; the company also produces the chips of other market giants, such as Advanced Micro Devices and Broadcom, and is in contact with the cloud service providers that buy those chips. This means the company has a very clear picture of the general demand environment. TSMC, reporting earnings for the fourth quarter of 2025 that beat analysts' estimates, said it's spoken to cloud service providers regarding demand for AI. "I'm quite satisfied with their answer," said C.C. Wei, chief executive officer of TSMC, during the earnings call. "AI is real" and "starting to grow into our daily life. Our conviction in the multi-year AI megatrend remains strong." TSMC's process of working closely with chip designers and their customers puts the company in a good position to predict what the demand picture may look like in quarters to come. And the company's message today is that the need for GPUs should remain strong well into the future -- and that suggests Nvidia, as the market leader, may benefit in 2026 (and likely well beyond). It's important to keep in mind that Nvidia has pledged to update its chips on an annual basis, and the next update is set to happen later this year with the launch of the Rubin system. AI customers, eager to use the most powerful tools available, may rush to get in on that product -- as they rushed to get in on Blackwell and Blackwell Ultra over the past year or so. All of this could supercharge Nvidia's revenue later in the year, and seeing that potential, growth investors may scoop up the stock ahead of time. So TSMC's message offers us reason to be optimistic about Nvidia in 2026.

[21]

Korea Times

Taiwan's TSMC logs quarterly net profit jump on AI boom - The Korea Times

TAIPEI -- Taiwanese chipmaking titan TSMC announced Thursday a forecast-busting net profit for the fourth quarter as demand for AI technology skyrockets. TSMC is the world's biggest contract maker of chips used in everything from Apple's smartphones to Nvidia's cutting-edge articifical intelligence hardware. The company has been a massive beneficiary of the AI revolution that has seen US tech giants pour many billions of dollars into chips, servers and data centres. TSMC said net profit for the three months to December increased 35 percent year-on-year to NT$505.7 billion ($16 billion), beating the NT$466.69 billion forecast by analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News. Net revenue for the fourth quarter rose 20.5 percent from a year ago to NT$1.05 trillion, TSMC said, also beating expectations. The results came after Taiwan said it had reached a "general consensus" with the United States on a trade deal that the island hopes will reduce its current 20 percent tariff and shield its semiconductor industry from levies.

[22]

Chip Stocks Soar After Taiwan Semiconductor Smashes AI Bubble Fears - Taiwan Semiconductor (NYSE:TSM)

A blowout earnings report from the world's most critical chip supplier reignited the semiconductor rally Thursday, underscoring just how tightly the sector is now tethered to the AI spending supercycle. Taiwan Semiconductor Earnings Fuel Chip Stock Rally Semiconductor chip stocks led by Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) gained on Thursday after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (NYSE:TSM) earnings confirmed the AI supercycle. Taiwan Semiconductor beat fourth-quarter expectations, reinforcing its role as a key supplier to customers like Nvidia. The company posted net sales of $33.73 billion, up 20.5% year-over-year, topping the $33.27 billion analyst consensus. Net income rose 35% to $16.31 billion, and EPS came in at $3.14, above the $2.79 consensus estimate. Margins expanded as utilization improved and costs came down, with gross margin reaching 62.3%. Optimistic Outlook Highlights AI Demand It projected first-quarter 2026 revenue of $34.60 billion to $35.80 billion, with a gross margin of 63% to 65%. The company also forecast about 30% full-year 2026 revenue growth in U.S. dollar terms and outlined 2026 capex of $52 billion to $56 billion, with 70% to 80% aimed at advanced technologies. Broader Semiconductor Ecosystem Rides Momentum Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO), Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD), Marvell Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRVL), Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU), and Arm Holdings Plc (NASDAQ:ARM) gained, bearing testimony to the interconnected nature of the semiconductor ecosystem. Chip equipment maker ASML Holding NV (NASDAQ:ASML) also gained on Thursday. Semiconductor stocks continue to bask in the glory of surging investor interest as Big Tech giants remain aggressive in their AI ambitions. Nvidia became the first company to top the $4.5 trillion market cap, surpassing the likes of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT), highlighting the sector's growing influence. As of mid-January 2026, the recent rally has solidified Taiwan Semiconductor as the sixth-largest company by market capitalization globally, ahead of Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) and Broadcom. TSM Price Action: Taiwan Semiconductor shares were up 6.62% at $348.77 during premarket trading on Thursday. The stock is trading at a new 52-week high, according to Benzinga Pro data. Photo by Jack Hong via Shutterstock TSMTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd$349.006.69%OverviewAAPLApple Inc$260.000.02%ADIAnalog Devices Inc$302.991.68%AMDAdvanced Micro Devices Inc$228.792.32%ARMARM Holdings PLC$108.213.07%ASMLASML Holding NV$1338.005.88%AVGOBroadcom Inc$348.402.50%CRDOCredo Technology Group Holding Ltd$159.241.53%METAMeta Platforms Inc$617.120.26%MRVLMarvell Technology Inc$82.701.83%MSFTMicrosoft Corp$461.670.50%MUMicron Technology Inc$346.543.96%NVDANVIDIA Corp$186.361.76%Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

[23]

BNN

Taiwan computer chip maker TSMC's to expand investment as profit jumps 35%

HONG KONG -- Taiwan-based TSMC, the world's largest computer chip maker, plans to increase its capital spending by as much as nearly 40 per cent this year after it reported a 35 per cent jump in its net profit for the latest quarter thanks to the boom in artificial intelligence, the company said Thursday. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp., a major supplier to companies including Nvidia and Apple, reported a net profit of 506 billion new Taiwan dollars (US$16 billion) for the October-December quarter, a 35 per cent surge from a year earlier, better than analysts' estimates. TSMC said Thursday that its revenue in the last quarter increased 21 per cent from a year earlier to more than 1.046 trillion new Taiwan dollars ($33 billion). TSMC said it plans to boost its capital expenditure budget to $52 billion-$56 billion for 2026, up from about $40 billion last year. The company's Taiwan-listed shares have jumped 59 per cent over the past 12 months, reflecting its strong position in the AI-driven market. Other tech giants including Microsoft, Meta and Alphabet are spending big on investments in AI infrastructure. "We expect our business to be supported by continuous strong demand for our leading edge process technologies," Wendell Huang, TSMC's chief financial officer, said in a conference call. He said spending would be "significantly higher" in the next three years. Asked about concerns over an AI bubble -- as critics point to ballooning investments which might not pay off -- TSMC chairman and CEO C. C. Wei said he is confident that the growing demand from customers is real. "I'm also very nervous about it, you bet," said Wei. "AI is real. Not only real, it's starting to grow into our daily life." With a market capitalization -- total outstanding shares times share price -- of about $1.4 trillion, TSMC is Asia's most valuable company. Alphabet, Google's parent, passed the $4 trillion market capitalization mark this month, the fourth Big Tech company to hit that mark after Nvidia, Apple and Microsoft, although concerns over massive spending on AI could turn into a bubble had led to occasional sell-offs. TSMC has pledged around $165 billion of investments in the U.S. and said Thursday it's speeding up construction of new plants in Arizona, looking to create a fabrication plant cluster and meet strong demand from clients. A primary beneficiary of AI, given its dominant share in cutting-edge chip manufacturing, TSMC's outlook remains optimistic, analysts from Morningstar said in a recent report. "It is immune from market share shifts as almost every AI company relies on TSMC to make chips ranging from application-specific integrated circuits to GPUs (graphics processing units)," the Morningstar analysts said. TSMC also has strong buffers with "deep-pocked" customers, they said, even if there are any short term drops in demand.

[24]

Billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller of Duquesne Dumped His Fund's Stake in Nvidia and Has Latched Onto a New Favorite Trillion-Dollar AI Stock

Duquesne Family Office's billionaire boss jettisoned his entire stake in the face of the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution in favor of another industry-leading company. More than three decades ago, the proliferation of the internet began changing the world forever. It opened new doors for businesses to sell and market their products and services, while also inspiring the retail investor revolution. For decades, the investing community has been waiting for the next technological leap forward to take shape. The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) looks to be the long-awaited innovation that could rival what the internet did for businesses. According to analysts at PwC, artificial intelligence can add an estimated $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030. This is an enormous addressable market that can create a laundry list of winners. But it doesn't mean every AI stock will automatically be a winner moving forward. Billionaire money manager Stanley Druckenmiller, who oversees nearly $4.1 billion in assets at Duquesne Family Office, has been especially picky when it comes to AI stocks. Thanks to quarterly filed Form 13Fs, investors can track the stocks Wall Street's savviest fund managers have been buying and selling, In Druckenmiller's case, he jettisoned his fund's entire stake in the face of the AI revolution, Nvidia (NVDA +2.06%), and has absolutely piled into his new favorite trillion-dollar AI stock. Nvidia gets shown the door Arguably, no company has fueled the evolution of AI quite like Nvidia. According to some analysts, its Hopper (H100), Blackwell, and Blackwell Ultra graphics processing units (GPUs) collectively account for a 90% or greater share of the GPUs currently deployed in enterprise data centers. In addition to its AI-accelerating chips being exceptionally popular with businesses, its hardware has proven superior on a compute basis to external competitors. CEO Jensen Huang has spared no expense to accelerate innovation and bring an advanced AI chip to market annually. Rivals already can't match Hopper, Blackwell, and Blackwell Ultra, and they may fall even further behind when Nvidia debuts its Vera Rubin GPU later this year. These competitive advantages have translated into outstanding pricing power and a notable uptick in the company's gross margin. But in spite of these advantages, Duquesne's billionaire boss bid adieu to his fund's stake in Nvidia during the June-ended quarter of 2024. It's certainly plausible that simple profit-taking played a role in his decision to send Nvidia stock packing. Shares of the company began soaring in early 2023 and haven't looked back. The average hold time for the more than 60 securities in Duquesne's investment portfolio, as of Sept. 30, 2025, is less than seven months, which indicates that Druckenmiller isn't afraid to cash in his chips when presented with an opportunity to do so. However, there may be more to this story than meets the eye. For example, in a May 2024 interview with CNBC, Druckenmiller acknowledged that he'd sold a meaningful portion of his fund's Nvidia stake in March 2024. While he reiterated that he's optimistic about the long-term potential for AI, he also proclaimed that "AI might be a little overhyped now, but underhyped long term." One of the unpleasant truths of every next-big-thing technology over the last three decades is that they all, eventually, navigate their way through early stage bubble-bursting events. All technologies need adequate time to mature and evolve. Unfortunately, investors commonly overestimate corporate adoption rates and optimization timelines, leading to lofty expectations not being met. Duquesne's billionaire investor may have also anticipated an increase in competition. Although Nvidia's AI hardware is virtually unmatched in compute potential, the biggest risk to the company's dominance may come from within. Many of its top customers by net sales are internally developing GPUs to use their AI-accelerated data centers. Even with these chips unable to match Nvidia's hardware, they're considerably cheaper and more accessible. Internal competition could put a serious dent in GPU scarcity, thusly harming Nvidia's pricing power and gross margin. Billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller purchased his No. 1 AI stock in four of the last five quarters However, Druckenmiller has also done his fair share of buying in the artificial intelligence arena. For over a year, no AI stock has stood out as his new favorite quite like world-leading chip fabricator Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM +4.55%). According to 13Fs, Duquesne has purchased shares of TSMC, as Taiwan Semiconductor is more commonly known, for four out of the last five (reported) quarters: * Q3 2024: 57,355 shares purchased * Q4 2024: 50,160 shares purchased * Q1 2025: 491,265 shares purchased * Q2 2025: 166,305 shares purchased * Q3 2025: No additional shares purchased (765,085 total shares held) The near-parabolic ascent of TSMC's stock and its ascension above a $1 trillion market cap have been fueled by the insatiable demand for AI-GPUs. TSMC is expanding its monthly chip-on-wafer-on-substrate capacity to meet growing demand from Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices, and other GPU developers. The extensive backlog tied to AI-GPU chip manufacturing should allow Taiwan Semi to sustain a double-digit growth rate for the foreseeable future. Another factor that's likely attracted Duquesne's billionaire chief to TSMC is that it's not solely reliant on AI chip fabrication. While there's no mistaking that AI is the primary catalyst lighting a fire beneath TSMC's rapid growth, it also manufactures central processing units, solutions used in Internet of Things devices, and is a key supplier of advanced chips for Apple. In other words, an entire world of opportunity exists for TSMC beyond the AI arena. If an AI bubble were to form and burst, it wouldn't necessarily pull the rug out from beneath Taiwan Semiconductor. There's a value proposition with TSMC that Druckenmiller likely found attractive, as well. When Duquesne's boss began gobbling up shares of the world's leading chip fabricator, it was valued at just 12 to 18 times forward-year earnings and sported double-digit annual sales growth. Although TSMC's current forward price-to-earnings ratio of 25 isn't expensive, shares are no longer the screaming bargain they once were.

[25]

Investing.com

TSMC shares hit record high after bumper AI-fueled earnings By Investing.com

Investing.com-- TSMC shares hit a record high in Taipei trade on Friday, after the world's largest contract chipmaker clocked robust fourth quarter earnings and said demand from the artificial intelligence industry remained strong. TSMC (TW:2330) rose as much as 3% to a record high of T$1,740.0, following a 4.4% overnight jump in its U.S. shares. Get more breaking news on TSMC and top AI stocks by upgrading to InvestingPro The chipmaker posted a bigger-than-expected, record-high profit for the fourth quarter, as it continued to benefit from outsized AI-driven demand for its advanced chips. CEO C.C. Wei signaled little cooling in this AI-fueled trend, stating that despite expectations of high costs in 2026, TSMC's earnings were likely to continue growing. The company is a key supplier to U.S. tech majors such as Nvidia and Apple, and has benefited greatly from an AI-driven surge in chip demand over the past two years.

[26]

BNN

TSMC Q4 profit poised to soar 27% as AI demand drives growth

TAIPEI -- TSMC, the world's largest manufacturer of advanced artificial intelligence chips, is expected to post a 27 per cent jump in fourth-quarter net profit to a record due to the seemingly insatiable demand for AI infrastructure. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world's top contract chipmaker and a key supplier to Nvidia and Apple, is forecast to report a net profit of T$475.2 billion (US$15.02 billion) for the three months through Dec. 31, according to an LSEG SmartEstimate compiled from 19 analysts. SmartEstimates place greater weight on forecasts from analysts who are more consistently accurate. TSMC, Asia's most valuable listed company with a market capitalisation of around $1.38 trillion - more than twice that of South Korean rival Samsung Electronics - is due to report on Thursday and will provide first-quarter and full-year guidance in an earnings call scheduled for 0600 GMT. It last week posted a market-forecast-beating rise in fourth-quarter revenue of 20.45 per cent. Any profit result above T$452.3 billion would mark the company's highest-ever quarterly net income and its eighth consecutive quarter of profit growth. Fourth-quarter revenue was driven by full utilization of TSMC's 3-nanometre capacity, fueled by the iPhone 17 series using Apple's A19 chip, as well as sustained robust demand for AI, said Galen Zeng, senior research manager at research firm IDC. Looking ahead, Zeng said IDC expects TSMC's revenue to grow 25 to 30 per cent in 2026 in U.S. dollar terms, up from its previous forecast of 22 per cent 26 per cent, citing booming demand for AI server accelerators and significant contributions from the company's next-generation 2-nanometre node. "The main driver is the explosive growth of the AI server accelerator manufacturing market," Zeng said, adding that the market is projected to grow 78 per cent year-over-year in 2026. Shay Boloor, chief market strategist at Futurum Equities, said AI demand is clearly accelerating and TSMC continues to gain share at the leading edge, where competitors are struggling to keep pace. But a faster-than-expected ramp-up of overseas fabs could dilute margin gains expected from TSMC's 2-nanometre node and pricing, he added. TSMC is investing $165 billion to build chip factories in the U.S. in the state of Arizona, and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said in a podcast released last week the company was set to invest more into the country. TSMC, which is currently in its pre-earnings quiet period, did not reply to a Reuters request for comment. It remains unclear how much U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs will affect TSMC. Taiwan's exports to the United States are subject to a 20 per cent tariff, but that excludes chips. TSMC's Taipei-listed shares gained 44.2 per cent last year, outperforming the 25.7 per cent rise for the broader market.

[27]

'AI Is Real': Taiwan Semiconductor CEO Silences Skeptics As Profits Rocket 35% - Taiwan Semiconductor (NYSE:TSM)

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (NYSE:TSM) on Thursday delivered fourth-quarter results that blew past analyst expectations, driven by global demand for its advanced processor technologies essential for artificial intelligence applications. As a key supplier to tech giants like Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) for its graphics processing units (GPUs) and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) for its smartphones, the company's strong results reflect its role in the industry ecosystem. The company also provided an optimistic revenue forecast for the first quarter of 2026. Taiwan Semiconductor reported quarterly net sales of $33.73 billion (1.05 trillion New Taiwanese dollars), up 20.5% year-over-year (Y/Y), topping the analyst consensus estimate of $33.27 billion. Net sales grew 5.7% quarter-over-quarter (Q/Q). Net income and earnings per share were $16.31 billion (505.74 billion New Taiwanese dollars) and $3.14, up by 35.0% Y/Y, topping the analyst consensus estimate of $2.79. In U.S. dollar terms, revenue growth was 25.5% Y/Y and up by 1.9% Q/Q. The top-line performance topped the company's guidance of $32.2 billion to $33.4 billion. Technology and Platform Revenue Breakdown The company stated that 3-nm technologies accounted for 28% of the total revenue, 5-nm technologies accounted for 35%, and 7-nm technologies accounted for 14%. Advanced technologies (7nm and below) accounted for 77% of total wafer revenue. By platform, High-Performance Computing (HPC) and Smartphones represented 55% and 32% of net revenue, respectively, while IoT, Automotive, DCE, and Others each represented 5%, 5%, 1%, and 2%, respectively. From a geographic perspective, revenue from customers based in North America accounted for 74% of total net revenue in the fourth quarter of 2025. In contrast, revenue from Asia Pacific, China, Japan, and EMEA (Europe, the Middle East, and Africa) accounted for 9%, 9%, 4%, and 4% of total net revenue, respectively. Profitability and Capital Spending Taiwan Semiconductor's AI technology moat helped it expand its quarterly gross margins by 330 basis points to 62.3%, topping the company's quarterly guidance of 59.0% to 61.0%. The margin expansion reflects a higher capacity utilization rate and cost improvement efforts. The operating margin expanded by 5000 basis points to 54.0%, exceeding the company's quarterly outlook of 49.0% to 51.0%. Free cash flow increased by 229.22 billion New Taiwanese dollars to an inflow of 368.60 billion New Taiwanese dollars in the quarter, as the increase in operating cash flow outpaced the increase in capital expenditures. Net cash generated from operating activities rose to 725.51 billion New Taiwanese dollars in the fourth quarter, up from 620.21 billion New Taiwanese dollars a year earlier. The company ended the quarter with 3.1 trillion New Taiwanese dollars, or $98 billion, in cash and marketable securities. Capital expenditures on a consolidated basis totaled $11.51 billion in the fourth quarter of 2025. The board approved a 6.00 New Taiwanese dollars cash dividend for the third quarter of 2025. Earnings Call Taiwan Semiconductor used its fourth-quarter earnings call to push back on fears of an AI demand bubble, with management saying customer demand remains strong across consumer, enterprise, and sovereign segments. CEO C.C. Wei said the company has directly validated AI demand with hyperscalers and their end customers, concluding that AI is a multi-year structural growth driver rather than a short-term cycle. "All in all, I believe in my point of view, the AI is real. Not only real, it is starting to grow into our daily life. We believe that is kind of. We call it AI Megatrend," Wei said. While capacity remains tight in the near term, the company is addressing supply constraints through productivity gains, higher utilization and node optimization, alongside a sharp increase in capital spending. The company is also accelerating its U.S. manufacturing expansion, particularly in Arizona, to support long-term AI and high-performance computing demand, while reiterating confidence in sustained revenue growth and profitability. Analysts also raised questions about competitive risks from Intel Corp.'s (NASDAQ:INTC) foundry ambitions, particularly following public comments highlighting potential partnerships between Intel and large U.S. chip designers. Wei acknowledged Intel as a "formidable competitor" but emphasized the structural and technical barriers to displacing Taiwan Semiconductor at the leading edge. He noted that advanced semiconductor manufacturing requires years of co-development, with two to three years of preparation followed by additional time to achieve volume ramp and yield maturity. Wei said Taiwan Semiconductor does not underestimate competitors' progress but stressed confidence in the company's long-standing technology leadership, manufacturing execution, and customer trust built over decades. "Are we afraid of it? For 30-some years we always in a competition with our competitor, so no we have a confidence to keep our business grow as we estimated." Wei said. CFO Wendell Huang reiterated that pricing remains "strategic, not opportunistic," with pricing gains largely offsetting inflationary cost pressures. Outlook Taiwan Semiconductor guided first-quarter 2026 revenue of $34.60 billion to $35.80 billion, versus the $32.52 billion analyst consensus estimate. It expects a gross margin of 63% to 65% and operating profit margins of 54% to 56%. The chipmaker projects its full-year 2026 revenue to grow by approximately 30% in USD terms. It is also planning significant capital expenditures of $52-$56 billion in 2026, with 70-80% allocated to advanced technologies. TSM Price Action: Taiwan Semiconductor shares were up 5.26% at $344.30 during premarket trading on Thursday. The stock is trading at a new 52-week high, according to Benzinga Pro data. Photo by Jack Hong via Shutterstock TSMTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd$347.086.10%OverviewAAPLApple Inc$259.94-0.01%INTCIntel Corp$48.59-0.27%NVDANVIDIA Corp$185.721.41%Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

[28]

Investing.com

TSMC Closed 2025 With Another Record Quarter | Investing.com UK

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:TSM) finished 2025 with a fourth quarter performance that reinforces its position at the center of the global artificial intelligence supply chain and reshapes investor perceptions around its expanding cost base. As the company moves into 2026, the strength of its earnings profile is becoming a key counterweight to concerns about heavy capital spending and rising geopolitical pressure on semiconductor production. Net profit in the fourth quarter rose 35% from a year earlier to about US$16.04 billion, exceeding market expectations of roughly US$14.77 billion and surpassing the previous quarterly record of around US$14.35 billion. Revenue increased 20.5% to approximately US$33.17 billion, in line with guidance, bringing full year 2025 revenue to about US$120.81 billion. These figures underline strong order visibility and sustained pricing power across advanced logic chips and high-end packaging, both of which are critical for AI accelerators. The earnings strength arrives as TSMC advances its U.S. manufacturing strategy. The company has committed US$165 billion to U.S. investment and is preparing to expand production and packaging capacity in Arizona to support AI-focused customers. While investors have spent much of 2025 questioning whether US manufacturing costs could pressure margins or amplify fears of excessive AI-related spending, the latest results suggest that current cash generation is sufficient to absorb higher capital intensity without undermining profitability. Market sentiment has shifted accordingly. Rather than viewing US expansion purely as a margin risk, investors are increasingly treating it as a strategic move that secures long term customer relationships, mitigates geopolitical exposure, and strengthens TSMC's competitive moat. The company's leadership in advanced packaging further supports this view by anchoring growth in a segment where capacity constraints remain acute. Looking ahead, investors will focus on 2026 capital expenditure guidance, the pace of Arizona capacity buildout, and signals on the durability of AI-driven demand. The base case is that strong cash flows continue to offset higher production costs while supporting long-term growth. The principal risk is that a sharper than expected slowdown in AI investment or persistent cost inflation erodes returns before new capacity reaches efficient utilization.

[29]

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Just Delivered Fantastic News for Nvidia and Broadcom Stock Investors

The semiconductor foundry provided the clearest evidence yet that demand for AI remains robust. The release of ChatGPT in late 2022 kicked off an artificial intelligence (AI) boom that continues to this day. Advances in generative AI have fueled a tidal wave of adoption across consumer and business use cases. These advanced algorithms can generate original content, streamline repetitive tasks, write and debug computer code, target advertising, and more. Nvidia (NVDA +2.13%) and Broadcom (AVGO +0.90%) were among the earliest companies to recognize the vast potential of AI and focused their resources to meet the growing demand. That decision was prescient, as their stocks have since gained 1,000% and 530%, respectively (as of this writing). In recent months, however, investors have become more cautious, concerned that the slowing relative growth and circular deals signal an AI bubble and that the AI boom is about to go bust. However, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM +4.55%), commonly known as TSMC, is the world's largest contract chipmaker, and it just delivered some fantastic news that could help put some of those fears to rest. AI demand remains strong Expectations were high heading into TSMC's fourth-quarter financial report, but the results show that demand for AI-capable chips remains strong. Revenue of $33.7 billion jumped 26% year over year and 2% sequentially. This drove earnings per American depositary receipt (ADR) of $3.14 up 35%. The results were driven higher by the company's leading-edge process technologies, as 3-nanometer (nm) wafers -- the most advanced chips on the market -- accounted for 28% of revenue, while 5nm wafers made up 35%. TSMC noted that high-performance computing (HPC) generated 55% of total sales. More telling was the company's exploding margins as TSMC leverages its expertise to answer runaway demand. The company's gross profit margin expanded to 62.3%, up from 59% in the prior-year period, operating margin climbed to 54% from 49%, and net profit margin soared to 48% from 43.1%. TSMC expects the AI-induced growth spurt to continue. Management's forecast is calling for first-quarter revenue in a range of $34.6 billion to $35.8 billion, up from $25.53 billion in the prior-year quarter, which would represent growth of 38% at the midpoint of its guidance. Scrambling to meet the demand Perhaps the most intriguing announcement was that TSMC plans to significantly increase its capital expenditures (capex) to keep up with the surging demand. The company plans to spend between $52 billion and $56 billion, well ahead of Wall Street's expectations of $41 billion and marking a significant increase from the $41 billion it spent in 2025. This jump in capex spending, which will boost existing production capacity, signals management's confidence that the strong demand for AI chips will continue. This development follows media reports suggesting that several high-profile customers, including Nvidia and Broadcom, have asked TSMC to boost production in recent months, as their supply remains capacity-constrained. The shortage of AI-capable chips has been well documented and is expected to last well into next year. The decision by TSMC to significantly increase capex spending and the resulting increase in production capacity will increase the supply of AI-capable chips. What this means for Nvidia and Broadcom While the robust results and rising investments in production capacity are obviously good news for TSMC investors, they also have broader implications for the state of AI. It also spells good news for Nvidia and Broadcom. First and foremost, this is clear evidence that the AI boom is alive and well. TSMC has its finger on the pulse of the semiconductor industry. Its willingness to increase capex by 37% shows that management is confident that demand for AI will continue. Moreover, reports from numerous big tech companies suggest demand for AI chips is far outstripping supply. For example, Microsoft CFO Amy Hood recently said that despite rising capex spending, "We now expect to be capacity constrained through at least the end of our fiscal year, with demand exceeding current infrastructure build-out, resulting in lost revenue opportunities for Azure in fiscal Q1 2026." This helps to illustrate the limited supply of Nvidia's graphics processing units (GPUs) and Broadcom's application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), both of which are in high demand thanks to AI. The fact that TSMC plans to increase production capacity should be music to the ears of Nvidia and Broadcom shareholders. Increased production capacity will likely translate to a growing supply of AI chips, fueling greater revenue and profit growth. Finally, both Nvidia and Broadcom are attractively priced, with both selling for less than 25 times next year's expected sales.

[30]

TSMC's Blockbuster Capex Plans, Results Herald Continued AI Boom -- Update

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. plans to spend a record of up to $56 billion this year to feed the world's insatiable appetite for chips, as it grapples with pressure to build more factories outside Taiwan, especially in the U.S. Massive investments in artificial intelligence have stoked fears of an AI bubble, but TSMC's planned capital expenditure of $52 billion to $56 billion--up 27% to 37% from last year--suggests that it doesn't expect any pullback in orders from clients such as Nvidia, Google and Apple. "When you've got a business like TSMC spending at this level, investors should be prepared for sustained AI demand rather than a short-lived boom," said Zavier Wong, market analyst at eToro. TSMC's chief executive, C.C. Wei, said at an earnings briefing Thursday that the decision to bulk up spending followed months of checks with major customers, and reflects verified AI-driven demand. "If we didn't do it carefully...that would be a big disaster to TSMC," he said. TSMC, the world's largest contract chip maker, is in a good position to spend big, entering 2026 with another blockbuster quarter of earnings results under its belt. The need for the high-end silicon produced by TSMC powered net profit 35% higher to a record in the fourth quarter of 2025, topping consensus views, while revenue increased 20.5%. TSMC's position as a critical manufacturer for U.S. tech giants has also put it in the middle of trade negotiations between Taiwan and the U.S. Under pressure to bring more chip production to the U.S., TSMC last year pledged to invest $165 billion in the U.S. as Taipei negotiates with Washington for lower tariffs. According to a Wall Street Journal report this week, TSMC is preparing to expand on that, building several new factories in Arizona, where it already operates a plant. No deal has yet to be announced, but it is near the finish line, the WSJ report said. The company has already purchased another piece of land nearby, Wei said Thursday, without elaborating on its U.S. expansion plan. According to the WSJ report, two of the planned new factories would focus on packaging chips, which provide supporting functions. TSMC has long vied with rivals to see who can pack the most transistors onto a single chip. But as the semiconductors needed for AI become larger and more complex, they increasingly depend on tightly integrated memory, making packaging equally critical. The AI boom has led to a global shortage of advanced packaging capacity, or the ability to bundle chips together. TSMC plans to allocate about 10%-20% of capex this year toward packaging technology as it aims to ease the industry bottleneck that has left AI titans like Nvidia waiting for completed chip systems. The payoff would be huge. TSMC's packaging business now delivers higher gross margins than its overall operations, analysts said. Despite the high costs of expansion, TSMC's 60% gross margin suggests the chip maker has effectively passed along some geopolitical surcharges and higher electricity costs to customers. Thursday's results and capex guidance should help ease some of the concerns about the geopolitical and supply challenges ahead. "This was a decisive quarter that strengthened TSMC's role as a bellwether for the semiconductor and AI ecosystem," said Wong at eToro. "With margins at record levels and demand visibility improving, it provides markets with a strong validation that the AI investment cycle remains firmly in expansion mode." --Joyu Wang contributed to this article. Write to Yang Jie at [email protected] and Sherry Qin at [email protected]

[31]

Taiwan Semiconductor Is Headed For A Record Quarter - Taiwan Semiconductor (NYSE:TSM)

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (NYSE:TSM) continues to benefit from surging demand for advanced chips, as investors and analysts look ahead to another strong earnings report. Record Quarter In Sight Taiwan Semiconductor is poised to deliver a record fourth quarter as demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure continues to fuel growth. Analysts expect the contract chipmaker to report a 27% jump in fourth-quarter net profit to 475.2 billion New Taiwanese dollars ($15.02 billion) for the three months ended December 31, Reuters reported on Monday, citing an LSEG SmartEstimate compiled from 19 analysts. The chipmaker will provide guidance for the first quarter and full year on Thursday. Advanced Nodes Power Revenue Growth Taiwan Semiconductor has already reported a 20.5% jump in fourth-quarter revenue to 1.05 trillion New Taiwan dollars ($33.1 billion), beating market expectations. Any profit above 452.3 billion New Taiwan dollars would mark the company's highest-ever quarterly net income and extend its streak to an eighth consecutive quarter of profit growth. Strong utilization of 3-nanometer capacity underpinned the revenue surge, supported by Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone 17 lineup using the A19 chip, Galen Zeng, senior research manager at IDC, told Reuters. Zeng added that IDC now expects Taiwan Semiconductor's revenue to grow 25%-30% in 2026, up from a prior 22%-26% forecast, driven by booming demand for AI server accelerators and rising contributions from 2-nanometer technology. He said the AI server accelerator market could grow 78% year over year in 2026. Analysts Raise Forecasts Ahead Of Earnings Wall Street analysts expect Taiwan Semiconductor to extend its momentum as it prepares to report full fourth-quarter earnings. Analysts have raised their price forecasts, pointing to Taiwan Semiconductor's central role in the AI hardware race and its tightening grip on advanced chip capacity. Goldman Sachs lifted its forecast by 35% to 2,330 New Taiwan dollars, citing projected 30% revenue growth in 2026, while JPMorgan expects operating margins to climb to a three-year high above 50%, Bloomberg reported. TSM Price Action: Taiwan Semiconductor shares were down 0.56% at $321.83 during premarket trading on Monday. The stock is approaching its 52-week high of $333.08, according to Benzinga Pro data. Photo by Jack Hong via Shutterstock TSMTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd$321.10-0.78%OverviewAAPLApple Inc$257.29-0.80%Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

[32]

Investing.com

TSMC set to report Q4 earnings, Asian chipmaking stocks upbeat By Investing.com

Investing.com-- Most Asian chipmaking stocks advanced on Wednesday as markets positioned for strong fourth-quarter earnings from TSMC (NYSE:TSM), which are largely expected to act as a bellwether for the industry. Chipmakers in China vastly outperformed their regional peers after reports said Nvidia's H200 sales will be limited in the country, while the release of a new artificial intelligence model, trained entirely on Chinese-made chips, drummed up sentiment. Get more top chip stock picks and analysis by subscribing to InvestingPro TSMC's Taiwan shares were muted on Wednesday after hitting record highs over the past week. The world's largest contract chipmaker is forecast to report a net profit of T$475.2 billion ($15.02 billion) for the three months to December 31, Reuters/LSEG estimates showed, up 27% from a year ago. The company already reported higher-than-expected quarterly revenue- at T$1.046 trillion, up more than 20% from last year. TSMC is expected to have benefited from increased utilization of its 3-nanometre capacity in Q4, while sustained chip demand from the AI industry, which has been a major earnings driver in the past two years, is also expected to have boosted its top and bottom line. Focus will be squarely on TSMC's outlook for 2026, given that the company is widely regarded as a bellwether for the chipmaking industry. The company is a key supplier to NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) and is an integral part of the semiconductor supply chain. Broader Asian chipmaking stocks were mostly positive ahead of Thursday's print. In Japan, Nvidia supplier Advantest Corp. (TYO:6857) surged over 5%, while Tokyo Electron Ltd. (TYO:8035) added 2.4%. Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (KS:005930) added 1.3%, while memory chip peer SK Hynix Inc (KS:000660) fell 0.3%, facing some profit-taking after hitting record highs in the past week.

[33]

TSMC smashes forecasts with record profit as it rides AI boom

TAIPEI, Jan 15 (Reuters) - TSMC, the world's main producer of advanced AI chips and a major supplier to Nvidia, on Thursday posted a 35% jump in fourth-quarter profit to record levels that blew past market forecasts and predicted more robust growth this year. Riding high on the global boom in artificial intelligence, it said first-quarter revenue could surge as much as 40% from a year earlier to $35.8 billion, adding that it expected to increase capital spending in 2026 to as much as 37% to $56 billion. Customers were "providing strong signals" and reaching out directly to request capacity, said TSMC, Asia's most valuable listed company with a market capitalisation of around $1.4 trillion - more than twice that of South Korean rival Samsung Electronics. Net profit for October-December climbed to T$505.7 billion ($16 billion), its seventh straight quarter of double-digit growth. That was well ahead of a T$478.4 billion LSEG SmartEstimate drawn from 20 analysts. SmartEstimates are weighted toward forecasts from analysts who are more consistently accurate. Trump's trade policies and threats to put tariffs on semiconductors have created much uncertainty for the global chip industry, though that uncertainty has yet to seriously impair surging profits on the back of the AI boom. Its results came as Taiwan signalled on Thursday that a tariff deal with the United States could come soon. The island's exports to the United States are subject to a 20% tariff, although that excludes chips. In March last year, TSMC announced plans for a $100 billion U.S. investment, on top of $65 billion pledged for three plants in the state of Arizona, one of which is up and running. U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said in a podcast released last week the company was set to invest more in the country. TSMC's Taipei-listed shares jumped 44% last year, outperforming a 25.7% rise for the broader market. They are up around 9% so far this year. ($1 = 31.5920 Taiwan dollars) (Reporting by Wen-Yee Lee, Faith Hung and Yimou Lee; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Anne Marie Roantree and Edwina Gibbs)

[34]

TSMC fourth-quarter profit leaps to record driven by AI boom

TAIPEI, Jan 15 (Reuters) - TSMC, the world's main producer of advanced AI chips and a major supplier to Nvidia, on Thursday posted a 35% jump in fourth-quarter profit to record levels that handily beat market forecasts on Thursday. Benefiting from surging demand for advanced chips used in artificial intelligence applications, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co said net profit for October-December climbed to T$505.7 billion ($16 billion), its seventh straight quarter of double-digit growth. That was well ahead of a T$478.4 billion LSEG SmartEstimate drawn from 20 analysts. SmartEstimates are weighted toward forecasts from analysts who are more consistently accurate. Trump's trade policies and threats to put tariffs on semiconductors have created much uncertainty for the global chip industry, though that uncertainty has yet to seriously impair surging profits on the back of the AI boom. TSMC said capital spending last year hit $40.9 billion, versus a previous company forecast of $40-42 billion. It announced plans for a $100 billion U.S. investment with Trump at the White House in March last year, on top of $65 billion pledged for three plants in the state of Arizona, one of which is up and running. U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said in a podcast released last week the company was set to invest more in the country. ($1 = 31.5920 Taiwan dollars) (Reporting by Wen-Yee Lee, Faith Hung and Yimou Lee; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)

[35]