TSMC expects record profit for sixth consecutive quarter amid AI boom

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is expected to post its sixth straight quarter of record profit. The engine behind it is familiar: relentless demand for chips that power artificial intelligence.

The numbers behind the streak

TSMC, the world’s leading contract chipmaker, reported third-quarter 2026 revenue of NT$1.49 trillion, or approximately $46.71 billion. That is a 50% increase compared with the same period a year earlier.

The figure cleared the company’s own bar. In July, TSMC guided Q3 revenue to a range of $44.6 billion to $45.8 billion, and the actual result landed above the top of that window.

It also beat the LSEG SmartEstimate of NT$1.46 trillion.

September did a lot of the heavy lifting. Revenue for that month alone reached NT$511.86 billion, up 54.6% year over year.

Profit is where the record streak lives. Q3 net profit is expected to come in around NT$740.8 billion, which would represent a 64% increase from a year earlier and mark the sixth consecutive record quarter.

For context, the fifth record arrived just one quarter ago. TSMC’s Q2 2026 net profit hit NT$706.6 billion, roughly $22 billion, a 77% jump year over year.

Q2 revenue came in at NT$1.27 trillion, up 36% from the prior year. So the top line moved from NT$1.27 trillion in Q2 to NT$1.49 trillion in Q3, a meaningful step up in just three months.

Revenue for the first nine months of 2026 totaled NT$3.90 trillion, a 41.1% increase year over year.

TSMC has also lifted its full-year outlook. The company now expects 2026 revenue growth slightly above 40% in US dollar terms.

Why AI keeps writing TSMC’s checks

High-performance computing, which includes AI chips, accounted for 66% of TSMC’s Q2 revenue.

Advanced process nodes, meaning 7nm and smaller, made up 77% of TSMC’s wafer revenue in Q2.

The research attributes TSMC’s Q3 performance to persistent demand for AI-related high-performance computing chips and advanced processing technologies.

What to watch on October 15

TSMC will hold its full Q3 earnings conference on October 15, 2026, at 2 p.m. Taiwan time. The revenue figure is already public, so attention will shift to what management says about the road ahead.

The call is expected to offer insight into potential price adjustments for 2027.

Capital expenditure is also expected to rise to support expansion in Taiwan, Arizona and other locations.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Diego Almada Lopez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.