Expected to Surpass NT$1 Trillion
AI Performance Continues to Set New Records
Taiwan's TSMC, the world's largest foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturer), is expected to exceed NT$1 trillion (approximately KRW 43.6 trillion) in artificial intelligence (AI) sales this year, according to Taiwanese media including United Daily News on the 27th, citing anonymous sources.
According to the sources, TSMC's AI performance continues to hit record highs due to customized AI chip orders and investments from Nvidia, which leads the AI semiconductor ecosystem, AI chip manufacturer AMD, and cloud service providers (CSPs).
The sources further explained that TSMC is optimistically expected to achieve a record high of NT$1 trillion in AI-related sales this year, benefiting from large-scale infrastructure construction projects such as data centers for AI accelerators built by the AI joint venture 'Stargate' recently unveiled by former U.S. President Donald Trump.
They added that TSMC's AI-related sales this year are expected to more than double compared to last year (15%), exceeding 30% of total sales.
Additionally, it is estimated that TSMC will enjoy a performance boom due to the saturation of operating rates at production facilities related to 3nm (nanometer, one billionth of a meter) and 5nm, which account for the highest proportion of TSMC's sales, as well as pre-orders from customers for 2nm and A16 (1.6nm process) products.
Another source reported that TSMC's AI-related sales reached about NT$434.1 billion (approximately KRW 18.9 trillion) last year, and this year it is predicted to comfortably achieve NT$868.3 billion (approximately KRW 37.9 trillion), double last year's figure, and surpass the NT$1 trillion threshold.
Nanometer refers to the unit indicating the linewidth of semiconductor circuits; the narrower the linewidth, the lower the power consumption and the faster the processing speed. Currently, the world's most advanced mass production technology is 3nm. Experts evaluate that TSMC generally holds an advantage in cutting-edge sectors of 2nm and above.
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