AI Demand Drives Strong Performance
TSMC Sales Reflect Nvidia Demand
According to TSMC, the world's largest foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturing) company, its sales from January to February this year surged 39% compared to the same period last year. Strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductors drove this robust performance.
On the 10th, TSMC reported that its sales in February reached 260 billion New Taiwan dollars (approximately 11.49 trillion Korean won), a 43.1% increase compared to the same month last year. However, this was an 11.3% decrease from the previous month (293.3 billion New Taiwan dollars).
The cumulative sales from the beginning of this year through February amounted to 553.3 billion New Taiwan dollars (approximately 24.44 trillion Korean won), marking a 39.2% increase compared to the same period last year.
Bloomberg News reported that TSMC's cumulative sales growth rate for February is higher than last year's annual sales growth rate of 34%. According to Bloomberg, experts' average forecast for first-quarter sales growth is 41%.
Bloomberg News particularly noted the strong growth in Taiwan's integrated circuit (IC) exports in January and analyzed that AI chip demand led to TSMC's sales increase. This was seen as a sign that "demand for Nvidia chips is recovering."
Bloomberg News assessed, "Although there has been debate on Wall Street about the sustainability of AI chip demand since China's DeepSea launched low-cost, high-efficiency AI models, TSMC's February sales demonstrate that demand for Nvidia's graphics processing units (GPUs) remains solid."
Bloomberg News pointed out that one of the biggest uncertainties TSMC faces this year is whether U.S. President Donald Trump will impose tariffs on semiconductor chips.
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