The results underscore how TSMC remains one of the bigger beneficiaries of a spending spree on AI infrastructure that’s expected to cross the $1 trillion mark in coming years. From OpenAI to Oracle Corp., industry leaders are racing to build the data centers that underpin the technology in the post-ChatGPT era. TSMC’s higher projection followed a better-than-anticipated 39% jump in net income to NT$452.3 billion ($14.8 billion) in the September quarter.
On Thursday, TSMC Chief Executive Officer C.C. Wei reiterated his industry was grappling with geopolitical uncertainty, and acknowledged how US sanctions have begun to close off swathes of China, the world’s largest semiconductor arena. Businesses across the global semiconductor supply chain are bracing for disruptions after Beijing imposed curbs on rare-earth mineral exports — essential to most technology devices — and the US responded with additional tariffs and restrictions on software sales to the Asian nation.
But Wei argued that AI demand would make up for that lost market.