Tsmc Profits Surge 57% As Demand For Ai Chips Remains High

TSMC reported a 37% year-over-year increase in revenue.

Chiang Ying-ying/AP

• TSMC reported net income of $11.6 billion in its fourth-quarter earnings Thursday.
• The company, which makes chips for Nvidia and Apple, is riding the AI boom.
• TSMC's CFO said its results were "supported by strong demand" for its advanced chips.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company has reported record earnings, indicating that demand for AI chips remains strong.

TSMC, the world's largest contract semiconductor manufacturer, reported Thursday that its net income increased 57% year-over-year to NT$374.68 billion, or $11.6 billion.

Revenue between October and December increased by 37% from the year-ago period to $26.88 billion. It was up 14.4% from the previous quarter.

The Taiwanese firm manufacturers chips for companies including Nvidia, Apple, and AMD.

Almost three-quarters of TSMC revenue from its wafer category — products using a thin slice of semiconductor material — came from what the company defines as its "advanced technologies" — all chips measuring 7 nanometers or smaller.

Nvidia's new flagship AI chip, Blackwell, uses 4-nanometer chips manufactured by TSMC.

In an earnings statement, Wendell Huang, senior VP and chief financial officer at TSMC, said that its results were "supported by strong demand" for its most advanced chips — those measuring 3 nanometers and 5 nanometers.

"Moving into first quarter 2025, we expect our business to be impacted by smartphone seasonality, partially offset by continued growth in AI-related demand," Huang said.

In 2024, 35% of TSMC's revenue came from smartphones, while 51% came from high-performance computing.

TSMC shares were up by nearly 1% after the publication of its earnings and were up more than 90% over the last 12 months.