TSMC Reports Strong Q1 Earnings Amid AI Boom and Trump Trade Policy Challenges

TSMC Q1 profit set to jump, but Trump's policies cloud its future

TAIPEI, April 17 (Reuters) - TSMC (2330.TW), opens new tab, the main global producer of advanced chips used in artificial intelligence applications, is set to report a 57% leap in first-quarter profit on Thursday, though it is also likely to flag risks from U.S. President Donald Trump's trade policies. The world's largest contract chipmaker, whose customers include Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab and Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab, has benefited from a trend towards integrating AI features into online products. But the firm faces headwinds from Trump's import tariffs and his criticism of Taiwan's dominance of the chip industry. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co is expected to report a net profit of T$354.6 billion ($10.92 billion) for the three months ended March 31, according to a LSEG SmartEstimate drawn from 18 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 has said most manufacturing will remain in Taiwan. It announced plans for a $100 billion U.S. investment with Trump at the White House last month, on top of $65 billion pledged for three plants in the state of Arizona. Trump has both praised Taiwan's chip industry and threatened it with tariffs. Last week, Trump 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. The Trump administration is also probing the import of chips, along with pharmaceuticals, in a bid to impose tariffs on both on the grounds that extensive reliance on foreign production of semiconductors and medicine is a national security threat. 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 of $38 billion to $42 billion, an increase of as much as 41% from last year. While the AI boom had previously helped to drive up TSMC's stock price, shares have dropped 20% so far this year given uncertainty about U.S. trade and tariff policies. In Taiwan, the company is so important to the export-oriented economy it is often colloquially referred to as the "sacred mountain protecting the country". ($1 = 32.4770 Taiwan dollars) Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Jamie Freed Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab Suggested Topics:Artificial Intelligence

Litmus test for chip stocks as investors gird for TSMC earnings

SINGAPORE, April 17 (Reuters) - Investors are bracing for the results from Taiwan's TSMC (2330.TW), opens new tab on Thursday to show further evidence of the wide-ranging uncertainty in the chip industry spurred by U.S. President Donald Trump's trade policies. Chip stocks across the globe have suffered this year as investor jitters about spending on AI infrastructure, the threat of competition after Chinese startup DeepSeek's launch, and, in recent weeks, fears around U.S. tariffs have sapped sentiment. On Wednesday, chip stocks were battered as Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab warned of a $5.5 billion hit after Washington restricted exports of its AI processor tailored for China, while Dutch giant ASML (ASML.AS), opens new tab raised doubts about its outlook. The spotlight now shifts to earnings from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, whose customers include Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab and Nvidia. TSMC is the main producer of advanced chips used in artificial intelligence applications and has been boosted by strong demand in recent years. The focus will be on capital spending plans as well as comments on demand for AI chips and how TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker, is navigating Trump's back-and-forth tariff challenges, investors say. "Managements are going to be cautious simply because there's so much uncertainty, but also it's a little bit of get-out-of-jail-free card," said Mark Hackett, chief market strategist at Nationwide in Philadelphia. "If they're nervous about a lot of other things, they can just blame it on the tariff policies and say that there's too much uncertainty and we're not going to give you guidance." Thursday's results are likely to show a 54% jump in profit for TSMC, but for Gary Tan, a portfolio manager at Allspring Global Investments, what matters are the firm's capital expenditure plans and comments on margins. Tan, whose fund owns TSMC stocks but is underweight on Taiwan, said TSMC is in the strongest position to pass on price increases. "That will be a proxy that you can work down the supply chain," he said. The threat of tariffs has weighed on TSMC stock. The Taipei-listed shares of TSMC are down more than 20% so far in 2025 in its worst start to the year in at least three decades as foreign investors flee. Its U.S. listed shares are down 23%. Foreign investors have sold $8.66 billion worth of TSMC shares so far this year after buying $2 billion last year and $10.4 billion in 2023, Goldman Sachs said in a report. The exodus of foreign investors from TSMC and Taiwan stocks through the year underscores the wavering sentiment as traders grapple with Trump's fast-evolving trade policies. Taiwan had been due to be hit with a 32% tariff by U.S. President Donald Trump, until he put all tariffs other than those on Chinese goods on hold for talks to take place. Taiwan and the United States on Friday held their first direct talks about the tariffs. TSMC, which announced last month an extra $100 billion investment in the United States, is central to the U.S. chip industry, and bringing more of its production to U.S. soil would solve a major supply chain risk for customers that also include Qualcomm (QCOM.O), opens new tab and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.O), opens new tab. Sam Konrad, investment manager for Asian equities at Jupiter Asset Management, said any geopolitical issues with Taiwan would create an extremely big problem for the U.S. tech companies that rely on the Taiwanese companies. "So we don't think the Taiwan risk is priced into U.S. tech valuations, but we think it is priced into Taiwanese tech valuations," Konrad said. Reporting by Ankur Banerjee in Singapore; additional reporting by Purvi Agarwal. Editing by Gerry Doyle Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab Suggested Topics:Technology

TSMC first-quarter profit tops estimates, rising 60%, but Trump trade policy threatens growth

A motorcycle is seen near a building of the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), which is a Taiwanese multinational semiconductor contract manufacturing and design company, in Hsinchu, Taiwan, on April 16, 2025. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company on Thursday beat profit expectations for the first quarter, thanks to a continued surge in demand for AI chips. Here are TSMC's first-quarter results versus LSEG consensus estimates: TSMC's reported net income increased 60.3% from a year ago to NT$361.56 billion, while net revenue in the March quarter rose 41.6% from a year earlier to NT$839.25 billion. The company released its revenue for March last week, showing a 10% increase from February. TSMC, the world's largest contract chip manufacturer, has benefited from the AI boom as it produces advanced processors for clients such American chip designer Nvidia. However, the company faces headwinds from the trade policy of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has placed broad trade tariffs on Taiwan and stricter export controls on TSMC clients Nvidia and AMD. Semiconductor export controls could also be expanded next month under the "AI diffusion rules" first proposed by the Biden administration, further restricting the sales of chipmakers that use TSMC foundries. Taiwan currently faces a blanket 10% tariff from the Trump administration and that could rise to 32% after the President's 90-day pause of his "reciprocal tariffs" ends unless it reaches a deal with the U.S. As part of efforts to diversify its supply chains, TSMC has been investing billions in overseas facilities, though the lion's share of its manufacturing remains in Taiwan. In an apparent response to Trump's trade policy, TSMC last month announced plans to invest an additional $100 billion in the U.S. on top of the $65 billion it has committed to three plants in the U.S. On Monday, AMD said it would soon manufacture processor chips at one of the new Arizona-based TSMC facilities, marking the first time that its chips will be manufactured in the U.S. The same day, Nvidia announced that it has already started production of its Blackwell chips at TSMC's Arizona plants. It plans to produce up to half a trillion dollars of AI infrastructure in the U.S. over the next four years through partners, including TSMC. Taiwan-listed shares of TSMC were down about 0.4%. Shares have lost about 20% so far this year.

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)