TSMC Revenue Jumps in Q1, Topping Expectations Amid AI-Fueled Demand Boom

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM) on Wednesday reported quarterly revenue that came in higher than analysts’ expectations, and just above the midpoint of the company’s guidance.

TSMC, which will release a full earnings report next week, has seen a boom in demand for its products, which it supplies to a number of tech giants including Apple (AAPL) and Nvidia (NVDA), thanks in part to the artificial intelligence (AI) craze of the last year.

The company reported revenue of 195.21 billion New Taiwan dollars ($6.07 billion) for March, up 34% from the year-earlier month. For the quarter, revenue increased 17% to TWD592.64 billion ($18.42 billion), ahead of analysts’ expectation of TWD580 billion ($18.03 billion), according to estimates compiled by Visible Alpha, and also above the midpoint of TSMC’s guidance of between $18 billion and $18.8 billion.

Wedbush analysts said in a note following the revenue update that TSMC’s above-expectations sales figures can be attributed to a number of factors, from the AI boom to record-high cryptocurrency prices fueling demand for mining equipment that it plays a role in producing, along with increases in standard server demand.

“With TSMC exceeding prior estimates, we see no reason to deviate from our positive stance on the name and are reiterating our Outperform rating,” the analysts wrote.

American depositary receipts (ADRs) of the Taiwanese company were up 0.3% at $145.87 at around 1:45 p.m. ET, after rising as high as $148.43 earlier in the session. Earlier this week, they gained on the announcement that TSMC would receive up to $6.6 billion in CHIPS Act funding to expand its plans to three factories at an Arizona facility it began constructing in 2021.