DEV Community

TechPulse
TechPulse

Posted on

TSMC September revenue rises 54.6% as AI chip demand holds

#tsmc #semiconductors #ai #samsung

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. posted September net revenue of about NT$511.86 billion, up 54.6% from a year earlier, a primary-source print that keeps the AI foundry boom in view even as the month slipped slightly from August.

What Happened

TSMC said on October 8, 2026, that consolidated revenue for September was approximately NT$511.86 billion. That was 0.6% below August 2026 and 54.6% above September 2025. Revenue for January through September totaled NT$3,898.73 billion, up 41.1% from the same period in 2025, the company said in its monthly revenue report.

CNBC converted the September figure to about $16.03 billion and noted that the month was not a record. August was higher. TSMC's own investor table lists September at NT$511,857 million, August at NT$514,806 million, and July at NT$467,580 million. Those three unaudited monthly figures add up to roughly NT$1.494 trillion for the third quarter.

TSMC has not yet published audited third-quarter earnings. Bloomberg, calculating from the monthly releases, put third-quarter revenue at NT$1.49 trillion, or about $46.7 billion, a 51% rise from a year earlier and above an analyst average of NT$1.46 trillion. That quarterly growth rate is Bloomberg's calculation, not a figure in TSMC's October 8 release.

Details

The year-to-date climb is broad, not a one-month spike. TSMC's monthly table shows January through September all higher than the prior year, from a 17.5% gain in April to a 67.9% gain in June. September's 54.6% jump sits in the upper half of that range, even with the small sequential dip.

TSMC is the contract manufacturer for Nvidia and Apple, so its sales are a read-through on advanced-node demand rather than a single customer's order book. The company is due to report third-quarter earnings next week, CNBC reported. That briefing is where management usually discusses utilization, advanced-node mix, and capital spending. None of those breakdowns are in the monthly revenue note.

Separately, Reuters reported on October 8 that Samsung Electronics guided third-quarter operating profit to 107.4 trillion won, about $80.17 billion, slightly ahead of an LSEG SmartEstimate of 106.1 trillion won. Samsung described the forecast as a near nine-fold jump and said it would be the first time a major technology company topped 100 trillion won in quarterly operating profit. That is Samsung's preliminary guidance, not TSMC's result, but it is the other large public signal this week that AI memory demand is still lifting chip earnings.

Why It Matters

Investors have spent the autumn asking whether AI infrastructure spending can keep absorbing leading-edge wafers and high-bandwidth memory. A 54.6% September increase at the foundry that builds the most advanced logic chips is evidence that demand had not rolled over by the end of the quarter. It does not, by itself, prove that 2027 orders are locked in.

The sequential dip is small, and TSMC did not explain it. A 0.6% month-to-month decline after a very strong August can be timing, product mix, or simply the shape of shipments. Treating it as a peak would go beyond what the company disclosed.

Context

TSMC's shares hit a record this month before the release, Bloomberg reported, reflecting confidence in its advanced process lineup. North American customers accounted for more than 75% of sales in the first half of this year, the same report said. Bloomberg also reported that TSMC is considering further expansion in Texas after pledging $265 billion for an Arizona campus, and that it added $100 billion to the Arizona plan in July. Those expansion points are reported plans and prior pledges, not new commitments in the September revenue statement.

In September, TSMC committed to ASML's High-NA extreme ultraviolet tools, CNBC reported, joining Samsung among customers of the machines used for more advanced chips. That is a capacity and roadmap item. It does not change September's sales number.

Impact

For Nvidia, Apple, and the cloud buyers behind them, a still-rising foundry print means the constraint is more likely to stay supply and price than a sudden drop in orders. For memory, Samsung's guidance — if the final results match it — points the same direction: AI servers are absorbing a larger share of chip output. Analysts cited by Reuters expect the memory shortage to persist and possibly widen in 2027. Samsung has said it expects shortages to worsen in 2027 and last into 2028, according to Dow Jones. Those are forecasts, not shipments.

Handset makers are on the other side of that squeeze. Reuters noted that higher chip costs are pressuring smartphone margins, and that U.S. tariffs remain an uncertainty for Samsung. A foundry and memory upcycle can be good for chipmakers and painful for device brands at the same time.

What's Next

The next hard data point is TSMC's third-quarter earnings next week. Watch for commentary on 2027 demand, overseas fab costs, and whether the High-NA EUV commitment changes the capital-spending path. Samsung's final third-quarter results will show whether the 107.4 trillion won operating-profit guide holds after the usual adjustments.

Until those calls, the confirmed facts are narrower: September revenue of NT$511.86 billion, up 54.6% year over year and down 0.6% from August, and a year-to-date total of NT$3,898.73 billion, up 41.1%.

TechPulse Takeaway

TSMC's monthly report is the cleanest public proof this week that AI chip demand was still strong in September. The 51% quarterly jump is a calculated read on unaudited months, and Samsung's $80 billion profit is a separate company's guidance. The earnings call, not the sales flash, is where the 2027 story gets tested.

Sources

Top comments (0)