Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC posted a 9% rise in first-quarter net profit on Thursday that beat market expectations as it rides a wave of demand for semiconductors used in artificial intelligence applications.
TSMC shares rose over 3% in premarket trading.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC) , the world's largest contract chipmaker and a major Apple Inc and Nvidia supplier, 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 saw January-March net profit rise to T$225.5 billion ($6.98 billion) from T$206.9 billion a year earlier.
The profit beat a T$218.1 billion LSEG SmartEstimate by T$7.4 billion, which is weighted toward forecasts from analysts who are more consistently accurate.
TSMC, Asia's most valuable listed company, said first-quarter revenue rose 13% year-on-year to $18.87 billion, better than the company's previous forecast of $18 billion to $18.8 billion. The company last week announced first quarter revenue in Taiwan dollars, coming in at T$592.64 billion.
Capital expenditure in the first quarter was $5.77 billion, TSMC said, compared with $5.24 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023.
TSMC's Taipei-listed shares have surged 36% so far this year. The stock was flat on Thursday ahead of the results versus a 0.4% gain for the benchmark index.
2Q24 Guidance
Based on our current business outlook, management expects:
◼ Revenue to be between US$19.6 billion and US$20.4 billion
And, based on the exchange rate assumption of 1 US dollar to 32.3 NT dollars, management expects:
◼ Gross profit margin to be between 51% and 53%
◼ Operating profit margin to be between 40% and 42%
On Wednesday, ASML, the largest supplier of equipment to computer chip makers like TSMC, reported weaker than expected first-quarter new bookings, though sales to China held up despite U.S.-led restrictions.
($1 = 32.3190 Taiwan dollars)