TSMC first-quarter profit expected to rise 5% on strong AI chip demand
profit on Thursday thanks to strong demand.
The world's largest contract chipmaker, whose customers include Apple and Nvidia, has benefited from a surge towards AI that has helped it weather the tapering off of pandemic-led electronics demand and pushed TSMC's stock to a record high.
TSMC is set to report a net profit of T$217.2 billion ($6.71 billion) for the quarter ended March 31, according to an LSEG SmartEstimate drawn from 22 analysts. SmartEstimates give greater weighting to forecasts from analysts who are more consistently accurate.
That compares to the first-quarter net profit of T$206.9 billion last year.
TSMC last week reported a 16.5% rise in first-quarter revenue, beating market expectations and at the high end of the company's own guidance.
Eric Yao, a vice president at Taiwan's Eastspring Investments, which manages about T$90 billion of client assets in Taiwanese stocks, said the $6.6 billion in U.S. subsidies for TSMC's new Arizona plants augured well for its prospects of maintaining its lead in advanced process technologies.
«TSMC will likely continue to lead in that front, and Intel and Samsung will not have much chance to catch up,» he said, referring to two rivals who want to challenge the company's dominance.
Intel this month disclosed deepening operating losses for its foundry business, a blow to the chipmaker as it tries to regain a technology lead it lost in recent years to TSMC, which also announced last week it would build a third fab in Arizona.
Fubon Securities analysts said they
