TAIPEI: Taiwanese semiconductor giant TSMC announced Thursday (Apr 18) a nearly 9 per cent increase in net profits in the first quarter of 2024, buoyed by global demand for its microchips used to power everything from mobile phones to AI technology.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company – whose clients include Apple and Nvidia – controls more than half the world’s output of silicon chips, which have been called the “lifeblood” of the modern world.
The company said Thursday that its net profit increased 8.9 per cent on-year in January-March to NT$225.4 billion (US$6.97 billion) compared to NT$206.9 billion in the same period last year.
First-quarter revenues also rose 13 per cent year-on-year to US$18.87 billion, it said.
CFO Wendell Huang also said during an earnings call Thursday that TSMC expects its second-quarter revenues to increase by 27.6 per cent.
TSMC, which produces some of the most advanced microchips in the world, dominates the chip-making industry, as well as its customer US-based Nvidia.
The bulk of its fabrication plants making its most high-tech products are based in Taiwan, a self-ruled island that is claimed by China – which has in recent years ramped up political and military pressures on Taipei.
With a supply chain so vulnerable to shocks, customers – as well as governments concerned about critical supplies – have called for the firm to move more chip production lines off the island, which is also prone to natural disasters like earthquakes.
Earlier this month, a massive magnitude-7.4 quake hit Taiwan and “a certain number of wafers in process were impacted and had to be scrapped”, Huang said.
“But we expect most of the lost production to be recovered in the second quarter and thus minimum impact to the second quarter revenue,” he said.