April 17, TSMC disclosed that its revenue for the first quarter of this year was NT$839.25 billion (approximately RMB188.41 billion), a year-on-year increase of 41.6%; net profit climbed to NT$361.6 billion (approximately RMB81.25 billion), a year-on-year increase of 60.3%, achieving double-digit growth for the fourth consecutive quarter.

Meanwhile, TSMC announced that in the first quarter ended March 31, calculated in US dollars, its foundry revenue was $25.53 billion (approximately RMB186.32 billion), a year-on-year increase of 35.3%, but a sequential decrease of 5.1%. In the first quarter, the shipment of 3-nanometer chips accounted for 22% of total silicon wafer revenue; 5-nanometer accounted for 36%; 7-nanometer accounted for 15%; advanced technologies (defined as 7-nanometer and more advanced) accounted for 73% of total silicon wafer revenue.

The company expects second-quarter revenue to be between $28.4 billion and $29.2 billion (approximately RMB207.41 billion to RMB213.26 billion), exceeding last year's $20.82 billion (approximately RMB152.05 billion).

TSMC said that strong demand related to artificial intelligence is expected to see AI-related revenue double by 2025, and this year it will strive to double the expansion of CoWoS capacity.

This morning before the U.S. stock market opened, TSMC shares rose more than 4%.

Bloomberg

However, Trump administration trade policies and threats to impose tariffs on semiconductors have brought significant uncertainty to the global chip industry and TSMC.

According to Reuters, affected by U.S. policies, TSMC's revenue from mainland China accounted for 7% of its total sales, down from 9% last year, while the proportion of revenue from North America increased from 69% to 77%.

Like many other chip stocks, TSMC's share price also fell this year due to the uncertainty of U.S. trade and tariff policies, with its stock price falling by 20%.

TSMC Chairman and President C.C. Wei said that although recent tariffs bring risks and uncertainties, he has not yet seen any changes in customer attitudes. C.C. Wei said that more information may be obtained in the coming months, and they will continue to closely monitor the potential impact on end-market demand and manage their business cautiously.

TSMC Chairman and President C.C. Wei Business Times

In February, Trump threatened to impose tariffs of 25%, 50%, or even 100% on semiconductors produced in Taiwan, China. In March, TSMC jointly announced with Trump at the White House a plan to invest $10 billion in the United States, with an additional commitment to invest $6.5 billion (approximately RMB47.472 billion) in three factories in Arizona. As of now, one factory has already begun operations, construction on the second factory has been completed, and efforts are being accelerated to scale up production capacity. The third factory is planned to start production later this year. At the same time, the expansion plans for Japan and European wafer fabs have not slowed down.

American chip giant AMD said on the 14th that it will soon begin production of processor chips at TSMC's new factory in Arizona, marking the first time its chips will be manufactured in the United States.

On the same day, Nvidia announced that it had started production of Blackwell chips at TSMC's factory in Arizona. The company plans to produce up to $500 billion (approximately RMB3651.75 billion) worth of artificial intelligence infrastructure through partners including TSMC in the United States over the next four years.

In addition, TSMC expects mass production of 2nm chips to begin in the second half of this year.

C.C. Wei mentioned that TSMC intends to increase its investment in the United States by tens of billions of dollars. It is estimated that after the project investment is in place, 30% of its 2nm and below advanced process technology capacity will be produced at the Arizona plant, thereby supporting the needs of customers including Apple, Nvidia, AMD, Qualcomm, and Broadcom.

As early as April 8, according to reports by Reuters, relevant insiders revealed that TSMC may face fines of more than $1 billion (approximately RMB7.35 billion) or more for violating U.S. export control regulations against China by providing chips to mainland Chinese enterprises. On the same day, Trump said that he had told TSMC that if it did not build factories in the United States, it would be subject to taxes as high as 100%.

On April 16, Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, pointed out that TSMC has long become a token of the Democratic Progressive Party authorities' "reliance on the U.S. to seek independence." It is only a matter of time before Taiwan's semiconductor industry is handed over to Lai Ying-jen, the "professional traitor" who sells out Taiwan. "It is harder than ascending to heaven to establish something, but easier than burning hair to destroy it." If the Democratic Progressive Party authorities are allowed to continue down the path of selling out and destroying Taiwan, not only will the industrial sector and people of Taiwan lose current job opportunities, but they will also lose future development opportunities.

This article is an exclusive article of Observer Network and cannot be reprinted without permission.

Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7494214442612245001/

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