Revenue of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) in the first two months of the current year showed growth of 39%, which is an acceleration compared to the upward dynamic of this indicator in 2024 and indicates a steady level of consumer demand for Nvidia chips used in the development of artificial intelligence.
The mentioned company, which is the world’s largest manufacturer of microcircuits, reported a combined revenue of $16.8 billion for January- February 2025. This result compares with 34% growth during the full year of 2024. The consensus forecast of analysts polled by the media provides for an increase in revenue of the world’s largest chip manufacturer by about 41% in the current quarter.
It is worth noting that TSMC’s financial performance as a whole is a kind of indicator of the state of affairs in the space of the artificial intelligence industry from the point of view of the dynamic of evolving this technological area. The corresponding statement is based on the fact that the company produces the majority of machine intelligence chips in the world. As noted by the media, nowadays Wall Street and Silicon Valley are discussing the sustainability of the current artificial intelligence frenzy. Against the background of the mentioned tendency, Nvidia, which supplies chips for training and ensuring the subsequent operation of machine intelligence systems, has become the most valuable company in the world. It is also worth noting separately that the artificial intelligence industry is faced with the possibility of significant internal changes after this year the Chinese DeepSeek demonstrated the ability to develop machine intelligence with expenses that are significantly less than the corresponding average indicators, which have already become something like a generally accepted financial necessity for the digital intelligence industry.
The robust growth in Taiwan’s exports of integrated circuits in January is a clear signal that sales of artificial intelligence chips continue to be a driver of TSMC’s revenue growth. Currently, 300-mm silicon wafer shipments are showing signs of recovery. At the same time, the 200-mm silicon wafer shipments probably reflect a decrease in consumer demand for these products in the automotive industry and several other industries. Electrical components need an order pickup from consumer-device firms.
Last week, Broadcom released information on its financial results for the first quarter of fiscal 2025, which further confirmed that spending on artificial intelligence computing remains at a high level.
Also last week, the Taiwanese company Foxconn, which is the main supplier of Nvidia’s AI servers and Apple’s iPhones, announced that its revenue grew by 25% in the first two months of 2025. The mentioned figure was $33.5 billion. In this case, there is an acceleration in the growth rate compared to the dynamic observed in January-February 2024.
One of the main uncertainties that TSMC will face in the current year is related to the still unanswered question of whether the President of the United States, Donald Trump, will decide to slap tariffs on imported chips. At the same time, as noted by the media, the company has probably become a beneficiary of front-loading or stockpiling ahead of that potential move. Last week, TSMC chief executive officer C. C. Wei joined Donald Trump at the White House to outline additional investments worth $100 billion. These investments are among the largest outlays by a foreign company into the manufacturing sector of the United States. The mentioned move, as noted by the media, has been characterized by many experts as an action aimed at staving off tariffs. At the same time, this point of view does not negate concerns that advanced technology could be moving away from Taiwan.
TSMC plans to build five additional plants in the United States in the coming years. It is worth mentioning that in April, the company agreed to increase its financial injections in the US by $25 billion to $65 billion and build a third production site in Arizona by the end of the current decade.
TSMC’s market capitalization currently stands at $876.96 billion. Over the past year, the value of the company’s shares has grown by 21.63%.
Recently, the chip manufacturing area has gradually become a space of geopolitical rivalry, which is especially relevant in the context of the current confrontation between Washington and Beijing, which is particularly noticeable in the economic and technological environments. Microcircuits are used in a wide range of products. Chips are needed for cars, smartphones, laptops, and many other technological goods. Microcircuit is also a basic material component, without which the development of the artificial intelligence industry is virtually impossible. At the same time, the recent growing geopolitical tensions have raised the issue of technological sovereignty. The deterioration of cooperation between capitals automatically means a degradation of interaction in many industries in a global context. Against this background, the autonomy of production will guarantee positive prospects for the economic and technological development of the countries. It is also worth mentioning that the experience of the coronavirus pandemic when due to severe restrictive measures related to a difficult sanitary and epidemiological situation, supply chains were significantly disrupted. Against this background, malfunctions occurred in the production process in many industries.
TSMC’s plans for operations in the United States mean positive prospects for the company. Increased geopolitical tensions, against which Washington may accelerate its pursuit of technological sovereignty in the practical plane. This is the process of large-scale impact which may become a source of reducing Taiwan’s importance as a manufacturing center, which is likely to mean certain losses for the company. At the same time, US production sites will allow TSMC not to cross the line beyond which absolute collapse begins.
