TSMC's Q1 Revenue Surges 42% Amid AI Chip Orders Before Tariff Bomb

Korea Economic Daily

Summary

TSMC reported that its Q1 revenue and net profit exceeded market expectations due to a surge in AI chip orders before the U.S. government's semiconductor tariff imposition.
The revenue share of high-performance computing (HPC) increased by 13 percentage points compared to the same period last year, attributed to stockpiling demand in the U.S.
The Q2 revenue guidance also exceeded market expectations, indicating positive performance.

Q2 Guidance Exceeds Expectations

TSMC, the world's leading foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturing) company, reported revenue and operating profit for the first quarter of this year that exceeded market consensus (average estimates by securities firms). This is attributed to a surge in orders from clients looking to stockpile high-performance artificial intelligence (AI) chips ahead of the U.S. government's semiconductor tariff imposition.

On the 17th, TSMC announced, "Revenue for the first quarter of this year was 839.25 billion Taiwan dollars (approximately 36.65 trillion won), and net profit was 361.56 billion Taiwan dollars (approximately 15.79 trillion won)." Revenue increased by 41.6% and net profit by 60.3% compared to the same period last year. Both revenue and net profit exceeded the consensus (revenue of 835.13 billion Taiwan dollars, net profit of 354.14 billion Taiwan dollars).

The revenue share of high-performance computing (HPC), including AI semiconductors, increased by 13 percentage points to 59% from 46% a year ago.

Bloomberg analyzed, "The uncertainty due to the unilateral tariff policy of the U.S. Trump administration has increased the demand for stockpiling high-performance semiconductors in the U.S. and other regions."

TSMC is also optimistic about its second-quarter performance. The second-quarter revenue guidance (official company forecast, announced in U.S. dollars) was 28.4 to 29.2 billion dollars, exceeding the market expectation of 27.2 billion dollars. The previously announced capital expenditure for this year (38 to 42 billion dollars) was also maintained.

Reporter Jeongsoo Hwang hjs@hankyung.com