TSMC Q1 Strength
- TSMC reported a robust quarter driven by AI-chip demand and continued expansion plans. - Bayelsa Watch says TSMC's Q1 revenue reached $35.9 billion with strong net‑income growth. - The company is growing but staying disciplinarian on guidance, keeping advanced capacity scarce and valuable to customers. (bayelsawatch.com)
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. opened 2026 with record profit as demand for artificial-intelligence chips kept its newest factories running near full tilt. (tsmc.com) The company said on April 16 that first-quarter revenue reached NT$1.134 trillion, or $35.90 billion, up 35.1% from a year earlier, while net income rose 58.3% to NT$572.48 billion. Gross margin was 66.2%, above its own guidance range. (tsmc.com) TSMC told investors that 3-nanometer chips made up 25% of wafer revenue, 5-nanometer chips made up 36%, and 7-nanometer chips made up 13%. Together, those advanced nodes accounted for 74% of wafer revenue in the quarter. (tsmc.com) That mix shows where the money is in semiconductors now: the smallest, fastest chips, which are used in Nvidia artificial-intelligence processors, Apple devices and data-center hardware. TSMC said its high-performance computing business, which includes AI and 5G chips, reached 61% of sales in the quarter. (cnbc.com) The company did not frame the quarter as a one-off spike. TSMC forecast second-quarter revenue of $39.0 billion to $40.2 billion and said it now expects full-year 2026 revenue to grow by more than 30% in U.S. dollar terms. (tsmc.com 1) (tsmc.com 2) TSMC is also spending more to keep up. Reuters reported the company raised 2026 capital-spending plans to the high end of its prior $52 billion-to-$56 billion range as customers keep ordering advanced AI chips faster than foundries can add supply. (reuters.com) That supply remains concentrated in a few places. TSMC’s investor materials show the company beat its first-quarter guidance but kept second-quarter gross-margin guidance at 65.5% to 67.5% and operating-margin guidance at 56.5% to 58.5%, a sign it is expanding without promising unlimited capacity. (tsmc.com) The expansion is not limited to Taiwan. TSMC’s Arizona project, announced in 2022, involves two fabs with roughly $40 billion of investment, with the second plant slated for 3-nanometer production and the site expected to produce more than 600,000 wafers a year when complete. (tsmc.com) For customers, the quarter reinforced a simple fact: the companies building the most advanced AI systems still depend on one manufacturer to deliver the chips, and TSMC says demand stayed strong enough to lift both profit and spending at the same time. (tsmc.com) (cnbc.com)
