TSMC posts sixth straight quarter of record profit on AI boom; market cap nearly double Samsung Electronics’

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC), the world's largest producer of advanced artificial intelligence chips, announced on Thursday (Oct 15) a sixth consecutive quarter of record earnings. The company's strong performance is attributed to booming infrastructure spending in the tech sector. Analysts have noted that demand for TSMC's AI chipmaking capacity, along with its advanced CoWoS chip packaging technology, remains robust.

This surge has propelled TSMC, a key supplier to Nvidia and Apple, to new heights, with a market capitalization nearly double that of South Korean rival Samsung Electronics, estimated at around US$2 trillion. In the July-to-September quarter, TSMC reported a net profit of NT$763.1 billion (US$23.59 billion), a 69% increase from the previous year, exceeding analysts' predictions of NT$746.3 billion.

The company's fourth-quarter and full-year guidance will be disclosed on October 16 at 0600 GMT, with investors closely monitoring the announcement amid concerns about potential U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate hikes. TSMC's shares on the Taipei stock exchange fell 2% prior to the earnings release, while the broader index slipped 3.4%.