TSMC’s advanced‑node mix and CapEx ramp
TSMC says advanced nodes (7nm and below) now dominate wafer revenue, with 5nm at about 36%, 3nm at 25% and 7nm at 13%. (tomshardware.com) The company is planning a very large three‑year capital spend and sequential 3nm capacity rollouts across Taiwan, the U.S. and Japan through 2027–2028 as it leans into AI and high‑performance demand. (intellectia.ai)
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing is now getting nearly three-quarters of its wafer revenue from 7-nanometer chips and smaller, with 5nm and 3nm doing most of the work. (investor.tsmc.com) In its April 16, 2026 first-quarter earnings call, TSMC said 3nm contributed 25% of wafer revenue, 5nm contributed 36%, and 7nm contributed 13%, for a combined 74% from advanced nodes. First-quarter revenue was NT$1.134 trillion, up 35.1% from a year earlier, and net income rose 58.3% to NT$572.48 billion. (investor.tsmc.com) TSMC guided second-quarter 2026 revenue to US$39.0 billion to US$40.2 billion, up from US$35.90 billion in the first quarter. Its April 16 investor page listed second-quarter gross margin guidance of 65.5% to 67.5% and operating margin guidance of 56.5% to 58.5%. (investor.tsmc.com) A process node is the generation of chipmaking technology, and smaller nodes usually pack more transistors into the same area. TSMC’s mix shows customers are buying more of the company’s newest manufacturing lines, not just its older, cheaper ones. (investor.tsmc.com) That shift tracks with where demand is coming from. In the same first-quarter 2026 presentation, high-performance computing made up 59% of revenue, while smartphones were 28%, and Chief Executive C.C. Wei said first-quarter growth was supported by strong demand for leading-edge technologies. (investor.tsmc.com, investor.tsmc.com) TSMC is building that capacity across several countries instead of adding it in one place. In Phoenix, its first fab started high-volume production on 4nm in the fourth quarter of 2024, the second fab is targeting 3nm volume production in the second half of 2027, and a third fab is slated for 2nm and A16 later in the decade. (tsmc.com) The U.S. expansion got much larger in March 2025. TSMC said it would add US$100 billion to its Arizona plan, bringing total planned U.S. investment to US$165 billion, including three new fabs, two advanced packaging facilities and an research-and-development center. (pr.tsmc.com) Japan and Europe are part of the same manufacturing map. TSMC’s 2024 annual-report materials said Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing was scheduled to provide 12-inch wafer capacity by year-end 2025, while European Semiconductor Manufacturing Company in Germany was scheduled for 2027. (investor.tsmc.com, investor.tsmc.com) The spending bill is rising with the build-out. In its January 15, 2026 fourth-quarter call, TSMC said its 2026 capital budget would be between US$38 billion and US$42 billion, with about 70% for advanced process technologies and 10% to 20% for advanced packaging, testing, mask making and other items. (investor.tsmc.com) TSMC has also warned that overseas expansion is not free. In earlier 2025 calls, the company said gross margin would face dilution as fabs in Kumamoto and Arizona ramped, alongside higher electricity and inflation-related costs in Taiwan. (investor.tsmc.com, investor.tsmc.com) For now, the numbers show TSMC still has customers willing to pay for the newest lines as it pours cash into more of them. The next test is whether that 3nm-heavy mix holds as new capacity comes online in Arizona and other overseas sites. ([investor.tsmc.com](https://investor.tsmc.com/english/encrypt/files/encrypt_file
