TSMC, one of the world's largest manufacturers of semiconductors, reported a 69% year-over-year growth in net profit in the third quarter of this year, driven by surging AI chip demand.
According to the firm's Thursday release, TSMC saw a net income of NT$763.06 billion ($23.6 billion) and consolidated revenue of NT$1.49 trillion ($46.2 billion) in the third quarter. Diluted earnings per share came in at NT$29.43 ($4.60 per ADR unit).
Compared to the second quarter of 2026, the Q3 results showed a 17.6% growth in revenue and an 8% increase in net income. Gross margin for the quarter was 66.4%, operating margin was 58.7%, and net profit margin was 51.1%, TSMC said.
The results set a new quarterly record for net profit, marking the company's sixth consecutive quarter of record earnings. TSMC's Q3 income exceeded the LSEG SmartEstimate of roughly NT$746.3 billion.
"Looking ahead, we continue to observe consumer and price-sensitive end-markets segments are being challenged due to the impact of rising component prices and macroeconomic uncertainties," TSMC Chairman and CEO C.C. Wei said on an earnings call, according to a Reuters report. "As such, we are being prudent in our business planning going into 2027."
In the third quarter, 2-nanometer process technology accounted for 8% of wafer revenue, 3-nanometer for 33%, 5-nanometer for 28%, and 7-nanometer for 10%. Advanced technologies, defined as 7-nanometer and more advanced, represented 79% of total wafer revenue.
TSMC's record Q3 results reflect surging chip demand from cloud providers and AI firms that are accelerating spending on data center infrastructure. High-performance computing, which includes AI processors, has become the company's largest revenue segment, with major clients including Nvidia, AMD, Apple, Amazon, and Google.