Taiwan computer chipmaker TSMC pledges another US$100 billion to expand U.S. chipmaking capacity

Matthew Bryson, managing director and equity research at Wedbush, joins BNN Bloomberg to discuss TSMC's plans to expand internationally.

HONG KONG — Major Taiwan computer chipmaker TSMC said Thursday it plans to spend another US$100 billion on expanding its manufacturing capacity in the United States.

The latest commitment appears to bring the company’s total pledges for investment in U.S. chipmaking to $265 billion. It also raised its annual revenue forecast after booking record high profits thanks to runaway demand from the boom in artificial intelligence.

The world’s largest contract chip manufacturing and one of the world’s most valuable companies, TSMC is seen as a barometer for the global chip industry and for AI at a time when worries about a potential AI bubble have been buffeting financial markets.

As AI-related demand continues to jump and needs for computing power from data centers surge, TSMC has been expanding chip fabrication plants in the U.S., Japan and Taiwan. It said it is increasing its annual capital expenditure budget for this year to $60 billion-$64 billion, up from an earlier estimate of $52 billion-$56 billion.

TSMC, or Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., is a key supplier to Nvidia and Apple. It had previously already committed $165 billion in the U.S. for building plants in Arizona, with six fabrication facilities planned.

The extra $100 billion in investments are to “support the strong multiyear demand from our leading U.S. customers,” C.C. Wei, chairman and CEO of TSMC, said during the company’s quarterly earnings conference Thursday. An additional four fabrication plants in Arizona will likely be built with the new investments, TSMC said. They will focus on making some of the most advanced chips that are 2-nanometer and below.

“We believe this investment will help to further foster the development of the U.S. semiconductor ecosystem, strengthen the supply chain and support an increasing number of high-tech, high-paying jobs in the United States,” he said.

Earlier this year, U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration and Taiwan reached an agreement that cut U.S. tariffs on Taiwanese goods, as Taiwan promised around $250 billion of new investments in the United States’ tech sector, including in semiconductors. That included spending by TSMC.

AI-related demand globally continues to be “extremely robust,” Wei said, as the “AI megatrend continues to drive the need for more and more computation.”

“I believe from this day on, all the way to probably 2029, 2030, the demand is very strong,” he said.

TSMC on Thursday reported a record 706.6 billion new Taiwan dollars ($22 billion) in net profit for the April-June quarter, up 77 per cent from a year earlier and better than what analysts had expected. Revenue was up 36 per cent year-on-year during the quarter, to 1.27 trillion new Taiwan dollars ($39 billion).

Wei said TSMC now expects its annual 2026 revenue growth to be slightly above 40 per cent year-on-year, up from its previous forecast of over 30 per cent.

TSMC’s ramped up investment plans are “essential to support (its) long-term growth” and to keep up with demand, said William Li, a senior analyst in semiconductors at Counterpoint Research.

Chan Ho-him, The Associated Press