TSMC posted a 60% jump in first quarter profit compared to last year and has stuck to its forecast for the rest of the year despite looming chip tariffs from U.S. President Donald Trump. In the earnings call, TSMC head C.C. Wei said the firm has not observed changes in customer behavior due to U.S. tariffs announced earlier this month.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Leading chipmaker TSMC has posted a 60 percent boost in its first quarter profits from this time last year.
00:08The Taiwanese firm saying it's still seeing robust AI demand in its quarterly earnings call,
00:14even mentioning China's breakthrough model and potential opportunities.
00:19The impaired from AI reasoning models, including DeepSig, will drive greater efficiency
00:25and help lower the barrier to future AI development.
00:31But the chip heavyweight is also flagging some risks, with several investors pointing to the elephant in the room,
00:38U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping global tariffs and his threat to impose specific levies on chips.
00:45Certainly we are mindful of the potential impact from all the recent tariff announcements.
00:52However, we have not seen any change in our customers' behavior so far.
00:58Does TSMC get involved in all those tariff negotiations between the Taiwan government and the U.S. government?
01:06We are a private company. Certainly, no, we are not getting involved.
01:11Trump's now-paused reciprocal tariffs on over 180 countries, including Taiwan, have sent global markets down,
01:20including TSMC's stock on the local Thai-X index, hitting a low point of around 24 U.S. dollars on April 9th,
01:29down 16 percent from when Trump first announced his tariff plan.
01:34It's an honor to be with you. Very great honor. Thank you very much.
01:37Thank you very much.
01:38Just last month, TSMC pledged a $100 billion added investment to its production site in the U.S.
01:46to add three more chip factories in Arizona on top of its existing three.
01:52Having these plants already very well underway in the United States is going to be a huge, huge boom for TSMC.
01:59The chips that will be manufactured in the United States obviously will not be subject to tariffs.
02:03So that gives TSMC and its customers a huge win or at least, I guess, a hedge against those tariffs.
02:15As Trump looks to bring manufacturing back to the United States, major TSMC customers are working to fall in line.
02:23Artificial intelligence powerhouse NVIDIA is looking to build its AI supercomputers entirely in the U.S. for the first time.
02:32But the firm is also set for a $5.5 billion hit after Washington blocked exports of one of its most popular AI chips to China.
02:42Its rival AMD also expecting a multi-million dollar charge for the same reason, sending tech stocks plunging.
02:50With fears of a global recession growing, industry watchers say this could slow down investments in AI, but that demand will stay.
03:00There's a huge driver with AI and there's a lot of political momentum behind making AI happen.
03:09So I'm very hopeful that it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when things will get back to a more normal and predictable model.
03:20With a looming chip tariff from Trump, industry heavyweights like TSMC are bracing for the worst,
03:26but are also doubling down on their ability to make critical, irreplaceable tech that the world, including the U.S., needs.
03:35Patrick Chen and Joyce Sen for Taiwan Plus.