Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. now expects its sales to grow 44 per cent this year in US dollar terms, up from the forecast it gave in July. The world’s largest contract chipmaker raised the outlook at an investor conference on Thursday but kept its budget for capital spending where it was.
Chairman and chief executive C.C. Wei told investors that demand for the company’s most advanced processes should stay strong and keep shipments of 2-nanometre chips rising. That is the newest technology in commercial production. In July, Wei had pointed to US dollar sales growth of slightly more than 40 per cent for 2026. He said TSMC’s lead in leading-edge manufacturing, together with solid backing from customers, should secure its performance for the year.
The new forecast came hours after TSMC reported record earnings per share of NT$29.43 for the third quarter, compared with NT$17.44 a year earlier and NT$27.25 in the previous three months. Chips made on the 2-nanometre process accounted for 8 per cent of third-quarter sales, up from 3 per cent in the second quarter. For the fourth quarter, chief financial officer Wendell Huang forecast revenue of US$52.3 billion to US$54.3 billion, with the midpoint 58 per cent higher than a year earlier and 14 per cent above the third quarter.
Huang put the fourth-quarter gross margin at 65 to 67 per cent, against 66.4 per cent in the third quarter, and the operating margin at 56.5 to 58.5 per cent, compared with 58.7 per cent. Capital spending for 2026 stays at US$60 billion to US$64 billion. Huang said the heavy outlay reflects the strong demand TSMC expects from customers over the next few years, including from emerging agentic AI applications. The company plans to spend more from 2026 to 2028 than it did in the previous three years, and expects spending to keep rising in line with demand.
TSMC also said it would keep investing while working to lift returns to shareholders and pay attractive cash dividends. Demand for its CoWoS packaging, which is widely used in AI chips, remains strong, according to Huang, and the company will work with customers to make sure there is enough capacity. Wei added that CoWoS is still customers’ first choice for chip assembly and that TSMC has a track record of satisfactory yields with the technology.
