TSMC posts strong Q1 on AI demand
TSMC reported a 35% year‑over‑year revenue increase to about $35.6bn in Q1, driven by sustained AI chip demand from customers including Nvidia and Apple, and commentary highlights rising custom silicon efforts as a competitive threat to GPU incumbents. Reports also note Apple is partnering with TSMC on a 3nm AI server chip as part of its cloud ambitions. (technobezz.com)
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. said first-quarter revenue rose 35.1% from a year earlier, extending the chip boom tied to artificial intelligence. (pr.tsmc.com) Revenue for January through March reached NT$1.134 trillion, or about $35.7 billion, after March sales alone climbed 45.2% year over year to NT$415.19 billion. (pr.tsmc.com) The company had guided for $34.6 billion to $35.8 billion in first-quarter revenue, and its investor relations page lists actual revenue at the top end of that range. (investor.tsmc.com) Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is the contract manufacturer behind chips designed by companies including Nvidia and Apple, so its monthly sales are treated as an early read on demand across the artificial-intelligence supply chain. (cnbc.com) Reuters reported the quarter beat market forecasts as demand for artificial-intelligence applications stayed strong, even after broader concerns about supply-chain disruption and data-center spending. (reuters.com) The bottleneck is no longer only chip design. CNBC reported this week that Nvidia has reserved most of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s most advanced packaging capacity, the final assembly step that turns a chip into a usable server component. (cnbc.com) At the same time, more cloud companies are trying to design their own artificial-intelligence chips instead of buying only general-purpose graphics processors. Reuters reported on April 6 that Broadcom signed a long-term deal to develop Google’s future custom artificial-intelligence chips through 2031. (reuters.com) Apple is also moving deeper into that effort. TechNode reported on April 9 that Apple and Broadcom are working on an artificial-intelligence server chip, code-named Baltra, expected to be made by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. on its N3E 3-nanometer process. (technode.com) That leaves Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. selling into both sides of the market: Nvidia’s graphics processors and the custom chips being built by Apple, Google, and other large customers. Its full first-quarter earnings report is scheduled for April 16, 2026. (investor.tsmc.com)
