TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC reported a 9% increase in first-quarter net profit on Thursday, beating market expectations as it rides a wave of demand for semiconductors used in artificial intelligence applications.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (TSMC), the world's largest contract chip maker and a major supplier to Apple Inc and Nvidia, benefited from a rally toward artificial intelligence that helped it weather a slump in electronics demand due to the pandemic and pushed TSMC shares higher. Score high.
TSMC saw net profit for the January-March period rise to NT$225.5 billion ($6.98 billion) from NT$206.9 billion a year earlier.
Earnings beat LSEG SmartEstimate of NT$218.1 billion, which is weighted according to ever more accurate analyst forecasts.
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. Last week, the company announced first-quarter revenue in Taiwanese dollars, amounting to 592.64 billion Taiwan dollars.
TSMC said capital spending in the first quarter was $5.77 billion, compared to $5.24 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Taipei-listed TSMC shares have risen 36% so far this year. The stock stabilized on Thursday before the results, compared to a 0.4% rise in the benchmark index.
The company will provide updates on its outlook for the current quarter and the rest of the year in an earnings call starting at 0600 GMT, including capital expenditures it previously indicated would range between $28 billion to $32 billion this year, compared with last year's $30.45 billion.
On Wednesday, ASML, the largest supplier of equipment to computer chipmakers such as TSMC, reported weaker-than-expected new bookings in the first quarter, although sales to China held up despite U.S.-led restrictions.
($1 = 32.3190 New Taiwan dollars)
(Reporting by Yimou Lee and Faith Hung; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Jamie Freed and Shri Navaratnam)
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