Net profit for January-March rose to £8.4bn, its fourth straight quarter of double-digit growth, according to Reuters, which was ahead of analyst forecasts.
The company also gave a bullish outlook for the year ahead as it pointed to continuing strong demand for AI applications. It said that despite tariffs it had yet to see a change in customer behaviour.
Seen as a bellwether for the global chip industry, the company’s results and outlook were a relief to a sector that’s been buffeted by the uncertainty around the imposition of tariffs by the US and some additional export controls.
The US has imposed strict export controls on chips for China and recently additional curbs on the sale of Nvidia product. President Trump is also looking at levying additional tariffs on semiconductors beyond his planned broader reciprocal levies on imports.
Wendell Huang, TSMC’s chief financial officer, said, “Moving into second quarter 2025, we expect our business to be supported by strong demand for our industry-leading 3nm and 5nm technologies. While we have not seen any changes in our customers’ behaviour so far, uncertainties and risks from the potential impact from tariff policies exist. We will continue to closely monitor the potential impact on the end market demand and manage our business prudently.”
TSMC said that it avoiding getting involved with tariff talks, if that’s possible, while unveiling an additional $100 billion investment in the United States.
Huang said capital expenditure for this year was expected to be between $38 billion and $42 billion, the same forecast given on the last earnings call in January, while for the second quarter, TSMC is expecting revenue of $28.4 billion to $29.2 billion, outpacing $20.8 billion for the same period a year earlier. For the full year it expects revenue growth roughly midway between 20% and 30%.
Interestingly, TSMC's revenue from China has dropped to 7% of total sales from 9% a year earlier, while North America generated 77%, up from 69% suggesting that it is shifting its focus to the US and away from China.
The company is certainly investing heavily in the US and is looking to reduce risk in the supply chain for its customers. In fact, 30% of its 2-nanometer and more advanced chips capacity will be located in Arizona after the US plants are completed.
