TSMC’s third-quarter revenue easily beats market forecast

TAIWAN Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, reported on Wednesday (Oct 9) third-quarter revenue that easily beat both the market and the company’s own forecasts as it reaped the benefit from artificial intelligence (AI) demand.

TSMC, whose customers include Apple and Nvidia, has been at the forefront of the march towards AI that has helped it weather the tapering off of pandemic-led demand.

Revenue in the July to September period of this year came in at NT$759.7 billion (S$30.8 billion), according to Reuters calculations, compared with an LSEG SmartEstimate of T$750.4 billion drawn from 23 analysts.

That represents growth of 36.5 per cent on-year, compared with US$17.3 billion in the year-ago period.

It is not a direct comparison as TSMC provides monthly revenue data only in New Taiwan dollars, but gives quarterly revenue figures and its outlook on its quarterly earnings calls both in US dollars.

On its most recent earnings call in July, TSMC forecast third-quarter revenue in a range of between US$22.4 billion to US$23.2 billion.

For September alone, TSMC reported revenue jumped 39.6 per cent year-on-year to NT$251.87 billion.

The company did not provide details in its brief revenue statement.

TSMC will report full third-quarter earnings on Oct 17, when it will also update its outlook.

The company’s Taipei-listed stock has risen 72 per cent so far this year, compared with a 26 per cent gain for the broader market.

It closed up 1 per cent on Wednesday ahead of the release of the revenue numbers. REUTERS