The logo of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company is visible in the background next to a printed circuit board.
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Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. On Friday it reported another quarter of record revenue driven by demand for AI chips.
For January to March, the world’s largest chipmaker reported revenue of 1.13 trillion New Taiwan dollars ($35.6 billion), above analyst forecasts of 1.12 trillion New Taiwan dollars, according to estimates compiled by LSEG. This represents an increase of 35% year-on-year.
For March alone, TSMC reported a 45.2% year-on-year increase in revenue to 415.2 billion New Taiwan dollars.
The chip giant is benefiting from continued demand for advanced semiconductors from its key customers Apple And NVIDIAEven though concerns remain about supply chain disruption from the Middle East conflict and its potential impact on demand.
“We think TSMC will easily exceed its 30% annual growth target,” SemiAnalysis analyst Shravan Kundojala told CNBC by email.
“While the end markets for smartphones and PCs declined due to memory shortages,” Kundojjala said, the AI ​​segment of TSMC’s business “gained weight.”
TSMC makes chips for everything from consumer electronics to data centers, and has been a major beneficiary of the hundreds of billions of dollars being poured into AI infrastructure.
It is one of the very few companies that can manufacture the most cutting-edge chips.
TSMC also reportedly raised the prices of its most advanced chips, which is a “big factor” behind the first-quarter sales decline, Kundojjala said, adding that he is projecting TSMC to report a gross margin of 64% for the first quarter.
From players like hyperscalers to a growing number of players designing their own chips Google To HandWhich provided the blueprint for some of the semiconductors that came to market with their own central processing unit (CPU). Reuters reported that AI firm Anthropic is also exploring designing its own chip, while a long line of startups are bringing new products to market aimed at the field of AI inference.
Most manufacturing will have to go through TSMC, or its competitors like Samsung intel.
TSMC releases monthly revenue figures but provides little commentary or profitability numbers. The company will report full first-quarter earnings on April 16.
Investors will also keep an eye on earnings asml Next week, one company will be looked at as a leader in the semiconductor sector. The Dutch giant makes machines that are vital for companies like TSMC to make the most advanced chips in the world.
