TSMC posted a net profit of NT$505.7 billion (about $16 billion) for the quarter, up 35 percent year-on-year and above analyst expectations. Sales totaled $33.7 billion, an increase of 25.5 percent over the same period last year. The company expects revenue growth of nearly 30 percent by 2026 and plans to spend between $52 billion and $56 billion on capital expenditures this year, up from $40.9 billion in 2025.
Checking with the customer's customers
Wei's optimism contrasts with months of speculation about whether the AI industry is in a bubble. In November, Google CEO Sundar Pichai warned of “irrationality” in the AI market, saying no company would be immune if a potential bubble burst. OpenAI's Sam Altman acknowledged in August that investors are “over-excited” and that “someone” will lose a “phenomenal amount of money.”
But TSMC, which produces the chips powering the AI boom, is betting on the opposite: Wei told analysts he had spoken directly to cloud providers to verify demand is real before committing to increasing spending.
“I want to make sure my customers' demand is real. That's why I've talked to all the cloud service providers,” Wei says. “The answer is that I'm pretty happy with the answer. Basically, they're showing me proof that the AI is really helping their business.”
The earnings report came on the same day the US and Taiwan signed a trade deal that cut tariffs on Taiwanese goods from 20 to 15 percent. The deal commits Taiwanese companies to $250 billion in direct U.S. investment, and TSMC is accelerating the expansion of its chip manufacturing facilities in Arizona.
