TSMC Reports Strong Q1 2025 Revenue Amid AI Boom and US-China Trade Tensions

Taiwan's TSMC says first quarter revenue up 42 percent

Taiwanese chipmaking giant TSMC reported Thursday a better-than-expected revenue for the first quarter on strong demand for AI technology, after tariffs slapped onto major economies by US President Donald Trump caused global uncertainty. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company is the world's largest contract maker of chips that are used in everything from Apple's iPhones to Nvidia's cutting-edge artificial intelligence hardware. TSMC said revenue in the first three months of 2025 rose nearly 42% to NT$839.25 billion ($25.5 billion) on-year, beating a forecast of around NT$830.5 billion by analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News. The company is scheduled to release full first quarter earnings in an online briefing next week. TSMC chairman and chief executive C.C. Wei has said the firm expected "2025 to be another strong growth year" as AI-related demand continues to surge. And its full year revenue was expected to increase "by close to mid-20s% in US dollar terms," Wei said at an earnings conference in January. But in light of Trump's ongoing trade war with China -- the world's second-largest economy -- and his threats to slap tariffs on semiconductor imports, Taiwan's own industry could experience reverberations across the global chip supply chain. Taiwan had sought to avoid Trump's threatened levies by pledging increased investment in the United States, more purchases of US energy and greater defense spending. Also last month, TSMC said it would invest $100 billion in the United States in what was hailed by Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te as a "historic moment" for Taiwan-US relations. The planned investment followed Trump's accusations that Taiwan stole the US chip industry and his threats to impose tariffs of up to 100%. In the end, Trump imposed a hefty 32% on Taiwanese imports -- excluding semiconductor chips -- though on Thursday the mercurial Republican abruptly paused the implementation for almost all countries except China for 90 days. TSMC has long faced demands to move more of its production away from Taiwan, with fears that supplies of the critical technology could be disrupted in any conflict with Beijing. China has upped military pressure on Taiwan in recent years to press its claim of sovereignty over the self-ruled island, where TSMC has its headquarters and the bulk of its fabrication plants.

Taiwan's TSMC says first quarter revenue up 42 percent

Taipei (AFP) - Taiwanese chipmaking giant TSMC reported Thursday a better-than-expected revenue for the first quarter on strong demand for AI technology, after tariffs slapped onto major economies by US President Donald Trump caused global uncertainty. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company is the world's largest contract maker of chips that are used in everything from Apple's iPhones to Nvidia's cutting-edge artificial intelligence hardware. TSMC said revenue in the first three months of 2025 rose nearly 42 percent to NT$839.25 billion ($25.5 billion) on-year, beating a forecast of around NT$830.5 billion by analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News. The company is scheduled to release full first quarter earnings in an online briefing next week. TSMC chairman and chief executive C.C. Wei has said the firm expected "2025 to be another strong growth year" as AI-related demand continues to surge. And its full year revenue was expected to increase "by close to mid-20s percent in US dollar terms," Wei said at an earnings conference in January. But in light of Trump's ongoing trade war with China -- the world's second-largest economy -- and his threats to slap tariffs on semiconductor imports, Taiwan's own industry could experience reverberations across the global chip supply chain. Taiwan had sought to avoid Trump's threatened levies by pledging increased investment in the United States, more purchases of US energy and greater defence spending. Also last month, TSMC said it would invest $100 billion in the United States in what was hailed by Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te as a "historic moment" for Taiwan-US relations. The planned investment followed Trump's accusations that Taiwan stole the US chip industry and his threats to impose tariffs of up to 100 percent. In the end, Trump imposed a hefty 32 percent on Taiwanese imports -- excluding semiconductor chips -- though on Thursday the mercurial Republican abruptly paused the implementation for almost all countries except China for 90 days. TSMC has long faced demands to move more of its production away from Taiwan, with fears that supplies of the critical technology could be disrupted in any conflict with Beijing. China has upped military pressure on Taiwan in recent years to press its claim of sovereignty over the self-ruled island, where TSMC has its headquarters and the bulk of its fabrication plants.

TSMC first-quarter profit likely soared but Trump policies cloud outlook

TSMC, the main global producer of advanced chips used in artificial intelligence applications, is set to report a 54% leap in first-quarter profit on Thursday, though is also likely to flag risk from trade policies of U.S. President Donald Trump. The world's largest contract chipmaker, whose customers include Apple and Nvidia, has benefited from a trend towards implementing AI features in online products. But the firm faces headwind not just from Trump's import tariffs but also his criticism of Taiwan's dominance of the chip industry. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co is set to report net profit of T$347.8 billion ($10.74 billion) for the three months through March 31, according to a LSEG SmartEstimate drawn from 17 analysts. SmartEstimates give greater weighting to forecasts from analysts who are more consistently accurate. That estimate compares to the 2024 first-quarter net profit of T$225.5 billion. TSMC has been spending billions of dollars on new factories overseas, though it said most manufacturing will remain in Taiwan. It announced a $100 billion investment with Trump at the White House last month, on top of $65 billion pledged for three plants in the U.S. state of Arizona. Trump has both praised Taiwan's chip industry and threatened it with tariffs. Last week, he said he had told TSMC it would have to pay a tax of up to 100% if it did not build factories in the U.S. On Sunday, he said the exclusion of smartphones and computers from tariffs on China will be short-lived, pledging a national security trade investigation into the semiconductor sector. "The company will likely double down on overseas fab investments to mitigate the geopolitical risk, despite two to three percentage points of gross margin dilution for the next five years," said SemiAnalysis analyst Sravan Kundojjala. "This will likely ensure TSMC gets favourable treatment from the U.S. government and minimise the tariff burden." Apple's iPhones, given they are mainly made in China, is another risk area for TSMC, said Cathay Futures analyst Venson Tsai. "If the iPhone can't be sold, then TSMC's chips can't either," Tsai said. TSMC last week reported a surge in first-quarter revenue in Taiwan dollars, slightly ahead of market expectations. The company gives its revenue outlook in U.S. dollars on its quarterly earnings call, scheduled for 0600 GMT on Thursday. It will also update its outlook for the current quarter as well as for the full year, including planned capital expenditure for production increases. On its last earnings call in January, TSMC said it expected capital spending this year to be $38 billion to $42 billion, an increase of as much as 41% from last year.

TSMC posts 47% jump in March revenue on strong AI chip demand By Investing.com

Investing.com--Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) (TW:2330) on Thursday posted a sharp jump in March revenues, driven by robust demand for advanced chips and AI-related applications. Revenue for March came in at NT$285.96 billion ($8.71 billion), a 46.5% jump from NT$195.21 billion ($5.94 billion) in the previous year. March revenues were also up 10% from February, For the first quarter ended March, revenue totaled NT$839.25 billion, a 41.6% increase compared to the same period in 2024, according to the company's statement. The report comes amid heightened global trade tensions sparked by U.S. tariffs. TSMC is a major supplier to Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) and NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA). President Donald Trump announced a 90-day tariff pause for most trading partners -- excluding China. This temporary relief helped calm global markets, but increased 125% tariffs on China raised concerns over supply chain disruptions and geopolitical headwinds. Taipei-listed TSMC shares jumped by their daily limit of 10% on Thursday.

TSMC first-quarter profit likely soared but Trump policies cloud outlook

TAIPEI (Reuters) - TSMC, the main global producer of advanced chips used in artificial intelligence applications, is set to report a 54% leap in first-quarter profit on Thursday, though is also likely to flag risk from trade policies of U.S. President Donald Trump. The world's largest contract chipmaker, whose customers include Apple and Nvidia, has benefited from a trend towards implementing AI features in online products. But the firm faces headwind not just from Trump's import tariffs but also his criticism of Taiwan's dominance of the chip industry. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co is set to report net profit of T$347.8 billion ($10.74 billion) for the three months through March 31, according to a LSEG SmartEstimate drawn from 17 analysts. SmartEstimates give greater weighting to forecasts from analysts who are more consistently accurate. That estimate compares to the 2024 first-quarter net profit of T$225.5 billion. TSMC has been spending billions of dollars on new factories overseas, though it said most manufacturing will remain in Taiwan. It announced a $100 billion investment with Trump at the White House last month, on top of $65 billion pledged for three plants in the U.S. state of Arizona. Trump has both praised Taiwan's chip industry and threatened it with tariffs. Last week, he said he had told TSMC it would have to pay a tax of up to 100% if it did not build factories in the U.S. On Sunday, he said the exclusion of smartphones and computers from tariffs on China will be short-lived, pledging a national security trade investigation into the semiconductor sector. "The company will likely double down on overseas fab investments to mitigate the geopolitical risk, despite two to three percentage points of gross margin dilution for the next five years," said SemiAnalysis analyst Sravan Kundojjala. "This will likely ensure TSMC gets favourable treatment from the U.S. government and minimise the tariff burden." Apple's iPhones, given they are mainly made in China, is another risk area for TSMC, said Cathay Futures analyst Venson Tsai. "If the iPhone can't be sold, then TSMC's chips can't either," Tsai said. TSMC last week reported a surge in first-quarter revenue in Taiwan dollars, slightly ahead of market expectations. The company gives its revenue outlook in U.S. dollars on its quarterly earnings call, scheduled for 0600 GMT on Thursday. It will also update its outlook for the current quarter as well as for the full year, including planned capital expenditure for production increases. On its last earnings call in January, TSMC said it expected capital spending this year to be $38 billion to $42 billion, an increase of as much as 41% from last year. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard and Wen-Yee Lee; Additional reporting by Jeanny Kao; Editing by Christopher Cushing)