Chipmaker TSMC to invest another $100bn in US production

{"text":[[{"start":8.65,"text":"Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company has said it plans to invest another $100bn to expand production in the US as the world’s leading supplier of chips to Nvidia and Apple raised its revenue forecasts and capital spending plans."}],[{"start":24.799999999999997,"text":"The new investment for its plant in Arizona brings TSMC’s total commitment to US chipmaking to $265bn, in a significant boost to the Trump administration’s efforts to bring back advanced manufacturing from Asia."}],[{"start":39.449999999999996,"text":"The announcement came as TSMC reported a 77 per cent surge in profits in the second quarter on Thursday as it reaps the benefits of the AI boom."}],[{"start":48.699999999999996,"text":"Net income of NT$706.6bn (US$22bn) blew past analysts’ estimates of NT$630bn, according to S&P Visible Alpha consensus figures, with net sales up 36 per cent to NT$1.27tn."}],[{"start":64,"text":"TSMC said it expected third-quarter revenue to grow 37 per cent year on year to $44.6bn to $45.8bn. It also raised its capital spending projections for the year from $52bn-$56bn to $60bn-$64bn."}],[{"start":83.8,"text":"“Our conviction in the multiyear AI megatrend remains very high,” said CC Wei, TSMC’s chief executive."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":91.39999999999999,"text":"Strong demand from AI data centres has created an overall shortage of chips and driven up prices for other customers such as consumer electronics makers."}],[{"start":100.85,"text":"Asked by analysts about how long the current AI chip shortage was likely to last, Wei said he expected demand to be “very strong” until 2029-30. "}],[{"start":110.8,"text":"“We do not foresee any bottlenecks to our capacity expansion plans,” he added."}],[{"start":115.89999999999999,"text":"The additional US investment will finance TSMC’s construction of four more production plants, Wei said."}],[{"start":122.85,"text":"That will include factories making its most advanced “2nm and below” chips and facilities for “advanced packaging”, a key process in producing more sophisticated chips."}],[{"start":133.35,"text":"Expansion outside its native Taiwan is hurting TSMC’s profit margins, even as it receives support from overseas governments."}],[{"start":141.29999999999998,"text":"The company said its international expansion and increased production of its most advanced chips would dilute its margins in the second half of the year."}],[{"start":150.14999999999998,"text":"TSMC did not give a firm commitment on the timeframe of its new US investment. Wei said the schedule would depend “on the market situation and the customer demand”."}],[{"start":159.45,"text":"“We will try to speed it up as fast as possible,” he added. “The situation today, with demand and supply, the gap is so big, we are working very hard to narrow the gap.”"}],[{"start":170.85,"text":"The strong figures from TSMC come a day after ASML, the Dutch chip manufacturing equipment maker that is one of TSMC’s key suppliers, upgraded its forecasts for the year as chipmakers and their customers race to catch up with AI demand."}],[{"start":186.95,"text":"In the latest sign of how the AI boom is reshaping the semiconductor supply chain, TSMC said high-performance computing — a segment that includes Nvidia’s chips for AI data centres — grew by 20 per cent over the previous quarter to 66 per cent of its revenue in the quarter."}],[{"start":204.6,"text":"Smartphone chips, which until a few years ago were its largest source of sales, were down 4 per cent quarter on quarter to 22 per cent."}],[{"start":221.20000000000002,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1784188283_1041.mp3"}