Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest maker of advanced AI chips, is poised to report its sixth consecutive quarter of record earnings on Thursday, powered by relentless infrastructure spending across the technology sector.
Analysts expect third-quarter net profit to surge 65% to T$746.3 billion ($23.4 billion), according to an LSEG SmartEstimate from 16 analysts, a methodology that weights the most consistently accurate forecasters. Any figure above T$706.56 billion would mark TSMC’s highest-ever quarterly income and its 11th straight quarter of profit growth.
The momentum stems from insatiable demand for TSMC’s chipmaking capacity and its advanced CoWoS packaging technology. As a key supplier to Nvidia and Apple, the company has become Asia’s most valuable, with a market capitalisation near $2.1 trillion, almost double that of rival Samsung Electronics.
The strength is already visible. Last week TSMC posted a 50% year-on-year rise in quarterly revenue, beating forecasts and setting a record. Morgan Stanley’s Charlie Chan expects the company to lift its full-year revenue growth guidance to the low-to-mid 40% range, driven by strong uptake of its cutting-edge 3-nanometre chips.
Attention will also turn to US expansion. TSMC is investing $265 billion in chip factories in Arizona, including an extra $100 billion unveiled in July, and is reportedly evaluating a potential investment in Texas. Elon Musk added intrigue by saying his companies would build the Terafab AI chip complex, which TSMC might partly sublease.
Views on Texas diverge. Chan argues expansion there could become necessary as Arizona nears capacity within five years. Morningstar’s Phelix Lee sees less urgency, calling Texas better suited to a 2030s-2040s plan and possibly “a dangling carrot” to pre-empt US trade policy.
With capex raised to $60-64 billion and its shares up 63% this year, TSMC remains the AI boom’s indispensable engine.
