TSMC expects AI megatrend to strengthen, as profit blows past forecasts
TAIPEI (Reuters) – TSMC, the world’s largest maker of advanced AI chips, expects revenue to rise as much as 24% in the fourth quarter as it rides the AI boom, beating forecasts and posting double-digit profit growth for a sixth consecutive quarter.
TSMC said it expects strong AI demand to continue and maintained its capital spending forecast for 2025 to $42 billion, even as it pointed to a potential business impact from U.S. trade tariffs.
The Taiwanese company reported a 39.1% increase in net profit in the third quarter and said it would remain cautious in its business planning for 2026.
Benefiting from rising demand for advanced chips used in AI applications, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co said its net profit rose to T$452.3 billion ($14.76 billion) in the July-September period.
This was well ahead of the LSEG SmartEstimate of T$417.7 billion from 20 analysts. SmartEstimates are weighted according to analysts’ estimates, which are more consistently accurate.
Trump’s trade policies and his threat to impose tariffs on semiconductors have created uncertainty for the global chip industry and TSMC, whose customers include Nvidia and Apple.
With Trump at the White House in March, TSMC announced plans for a $100 billion U.S. investment, in addition to the $65 billion committed for three facilities in the state of Arizona, one of which is operational.
On Wednesday, ASML, a leading semiconductor equipment maker for which TSMC is a major customer, said third-quarter bookings beat market forecasts but expects a significant decline in demand from China next year.
Samsung Electronics said Tuesday it expects its biggest quarterly profit in more than three years, also thanks to the artificial intelligence boom.
TSMC shares listed in Taiwan are up 38 percent so far this year; This largely eliminated concerns about tariffs and was ahead of a 20 percent increase for the broader market.
($1 = 30.6450 Taiwan dollars)
(Reporting by Wen-Yee Lee, Faith Hung and Ben Blanchard; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
