TSMC Profit Surges 61% on AI Chip Demand

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. booked its strongest quarter on record, posting second‑quarter net profit of NT$398.3 billion (about US $13.5 billion), a year‑on‑year surge of almost 61 percent that smashed analysts’ estimates and underscored how ravenous the world has become for AI chips. Revenue jumped 39 percent to NT$933.2 billion (US $31.7 billion), with high‑performance computing—including the GPUs that power large‑language‑model training—now accounting for roughly 60 percent of sales. Chief executive C.C. Wei told investors that demand from cloud providers, sovereign AI programs and automotive customers “just keeps getting stronger,” and he cited Washington’s decision last week to let Nvidia resume shipping H20 accelerators to China as “very positive news for TSMC.” 

The bumper quarter pushed TSMC’s market capitalization briefly past US $1 trillion in Thursday trading and prompted the company to lift its full‑year revenue growth target to about 30 percent in U.S.‑dollar terms, up from the “mid‑20s” forecast it gave in April. It also guided third‑quarter sales to US $31.8‑33 billion—implying as much as 40 percent growth—while cautioning that a stronger Taiwan dollar and the ramp‑up of new U.S. and Japanese fabs will squeeze gross margin to 55.5‑57.5 percent, down from 58.6 percent this quarter. 

Even so, investors took the tariff and currency warnings in stride, betting that AI demand will more than offset near‑term headwinds. Nvidia, AMD and Broadcom all traded higher on the read‑through, and brokerage models now pencil in a $160‑billion revenue opportunity for foundry‑made AI silicon by 2028—with TSMC expected to claim the lion’s share. With net profit rising five quarters in a row, a tightened 2025 capex plan of US $38‑42 billion and fresh guidance that effectively bakes in another record second half, TSMC has cemented its role as the heartbeat of the AI hardware boom and a bellwether for the entire semiconductor sector.