A logo of Taiwanese chip giant TSMC, in Tainan, Taiwan, on Dec. 29, 2022.Ann Wang/Reuters
TSMC, the world’s largest contract chip maker, said on Thursday that first-quarter revenue jumped 42 per cent, slightly ahead of a market consensus, benefiting from the boom in artificial intelligence.
Revenue for January-March came in at T$839.3-billion ($25.6-billion), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co said in a brief statement.
That was a tad higher than an LSEG SmartEstimate of T$835.7-billion drawn from 19 analysts and in line with company guidance of $25-billion to $25.8-billion. It said in February that revenue was likely to come in at the lower end of that range due to a $161-million impact from an earthquake in Taiwan in January.
TSMC will report full first-quarter earnings on April 17, including an outlook for the current quarter and full year.
The company, whose customers include Apple and Nvidia, has been one of a major beneficiary of advances in AI which have more than offset the tapering off of pandemic-led demand of chips used in consumer electronics like tablets.
Like other companies, TSMC’s shares have plummeted since U.S. President Donald Trump announced across-the-board import tariffs last week, though so far semiconductors have not been included.
Trump’s announcement of a tariff pause saw its Taipei-listed stock climb 9.9 per cent on Thursday, putting this year’s losses at 19.7 per cent, in line with the broader index’s 17.5 per cent drop.
Taiwan’s Foxconn, the world’s largest contract electronics maker and which makes AI servers for Nvidia, has also reported bumper sales, logging its highest-ever revenue for the first quarter.