TSMC April Revenue Soars 60% to NT$236B

As the consumer electronics market begins to rebound and demand for artificial intelligence (AI) technologies continues to rise, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) reported a substantial 60% increase in April revenue compared to the same period last year. This monthly growth reached 20.9%, totaling NT$236 billion (approximately US$7.3 billion), making it the second-highest monthly revenue in the company's history, just shy of the record set in October 2023.

TSMC's cumulative revenue for the first four months of the year reached NT$828.67 billion, a 26.2% increase over the same period last year. Following accelerated revenue growth of 34.3% in March, TSMC anticipates second-quarter revenue growth of around one-third, largely driven by strong demand for AI semiconductors.

The global smartphone industry experienced a recovery in the first quarter, including in the competitive Chinese market, which could lead to an uptick in orders for TSMC's mobile chip segment. Although TSMC faced a challenging 2023 due to low consumer electronics demand, NVIDIA's popular AI chips provided a cushion against the downturn in personal electronics demand. TSMC CEO C.C. Wei, however, has cautioned about the unpredictable pace of recovery.

Industry analysts suggest that TSMC's April revenue was primarily driven by the high demand for high-performance computing (HPC) and advanced 3nm and 5nm process technologies. The company's production capacity utilization increased significantly due to the continuous mass production of Apple's 3nm chips, Intel's ramp-up in production starting in Q2, and sustained orders from NVIDIA, AMD, and MediaTek's new flagship Dimensity 9300+ chip.

TSMC projects second-quarter revenue to range from US$19.6 to 20.4 billion, with a midpoint estimate indicating a quarterly increase of around 6%. Analysts estimate TSMC's average monthly revenue for May and June to range from NT$198.6 billion to NT$211.5 billion.

With strong contributions from AI server demand, TSMC forecasts dollar-denominated revenue growth of 21% to 26% this year, outpacing the semiconductor industry average of 14% to 19%.