TSMC hits yet another record as profit surges 39%, beating estimates on AI chip demand surge

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company On Thursday, it was reported that third-quarter profit jumped 39.1% year-on-year, beating forecasts and reaching a new record, as demand for artificial intelligence chips remained strong.

Here are the company’s results against LSEG SmartEstimates:

• Revenue: NT$989.92 billion in new Taiwan dollars, compared to NT$977.46 billion expected
• Net income: NT$452.3 billion versus NT$417.69 billion

TSMC’s revenue in the September quarter increased by 30.3% year-on-year to NT$989.92 billion, exceeding estimates. Net income rose 13.6% from the previous quarter, marking the second consecutive quarter of profit growth.

TSMC, Asia’s largest technology company by market value, has capitalized on the AI ​​boom to produce advanced AI processors for customers like Nvidia and Apple.

During the earnings call, TSMC CEO CC Wei said the company raised its 2025 revenue growth forecast to mid-30%. In July, the company expected revenue growth of about 30% for the full year.

In the July-September quarter, TSMC’s high performance computing The division covering artificial intelligence and 5G applications accounted for the majority of third-quarter sales, accounting for 57% of revenues.

Advanced chips with sizes of 7 nanometers or smaller accounted for 74% of TSMC’s total wafer revenue in the quarter, TSMC said.

In semiconductor technology, smaller nanometer sizes imply more compact transistor designs, resulting in greater processing power and efficiency.

Growth in TSMC’s most advanced chips particularly drove revenue growth in the third quarter, according to Counterpoint Research senior analyst William Li.

“TSMC’s strong revenues are a direct reflection of strong traction on 3nm as well as high adoption on 4/5nm, both of which are driven by ongoing orders from AI GPU and HPC customers and premium smartphone platforms,” ​​Li said in a statement to CNBC. he said.