AFP – Chip giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) said yesterday net profit jumped by more than a third in the second quarter of 2024, buoyed by global demand for generative artificial intelligence products.
TSMC – whose clients include Apple and Nvidia – controls more than half the world’s output of silicon wafers, used in everything from smartphones and cars to missiles.
Following the runaway success of ChatGPT, the company is now at the forefront of a generative artificial intelligence (AI) revolution, churning out the world’s most advanced microchips needed to power products made by Silicon Valley.
The firm said it made TWD247.8 billion (USD7.6 billion) in April-June, up 36 per cent from TWD181.8 billion in the same period last year.
Second-quarter revenues rose 32 per cent on-year to USD20.82 billion, it added in a statement.
“Our business in the second quarter was supported by strong demand for our industry-leading three-nanometre and five-nanometre technologies, partially offset by continued smartphone seasonality,” said TSMC’s Chief Financial Officer and senior vice president Wendell Huang in an earnings conference. “Moving into third quarter 2024, we expect our business to be supported by strong smartphone and AI-related demand for our leading-edge process technologies.”
The company expects its third-quarter revenue to jump to USD23.2 billion, above expectations, according to Bloomberg News.
It also lifted its full-year capital expenditure outlook to USD30-USD32 billion from a previous estimate of USD28-USD32 billion.
This month the company briefly broke the USD1 trillion market capitalisation barrier, putting it ahead of Tesla as the seventh most valuable technology firm. The share price of several major AI companies – including TSMC – dropped on Wednesday following reports that the United States was mulling strict curbs on firms that continue allowing China access to advanced chip tech.
TSMC has launched new factories overseas, including three planned in the United States, while one opened in Japan this year with another on the way.
Experts called the Japan plant “the most significant TSMC international investment to open in many years”.
