Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM) has released its latest monthly revenue figures, showing a continuation of its strong growth momentum, which reflects the persistently high demand for artificial intelligence chips.
The company announced on Wednesday that its sales for May reached NT$416.98 billion, representing a 30.1% increase compared to the same period last year and a 1.5% rise from the previous month. For the first five months of this year, TSMC's cumulative sales totaled NT$1.96 trillion, maintaining a similar year-on-year growth rate of 30%. Analysts anticipate the company's overall second-quarter sales will achieve a 35% annual increase.
Regarding executive commentary, TSMC's CEO, C.C. Wei, explicitly stated at a recent shareholder meeting that global chip supply is expected to remain insufficient to meet market demand for several years. This view was echoed by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who noted in the preceding days that Nvidia continues to face supply bottlenecks. Both statements underscore the supply-demand imbalance within the AI chip supply chain.
Following the announcement, TSMC's U.S.-listed shares pared losses in after-hours trading to a decline of 1.3%, having earlier fallen by more than 2.3%. The company had already raised its full-year sales guidance in April and indicated that its 2026 capital expenditure would trend toward the upper end of its existing forecast range, which is as high as $56 billion.
Tech Giants Commit Billions, Accelerating AI Investment Wave
As Asia's most valuable company, TSMC has become an indispensable core node in the global AI supply chain. The company manufactures cutting-edge chips for clients such as Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), directly benefiting from the worldwide surge in AI infrastructure development.
According to reports, four major technology firms—Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft—collectively plan to spend $725 billion on AI-related investments this year, a significant increase from prior expectations. This massive wave of capital expenditure provides a solid demand foundation for the sustained high utilization of TSMC's advanced process capacity and serves as a key rationale for analysts maintaining high growth expectations.
Supply-Demand Gap May Persist for Years, Expansion Accelerates
CEO C.C. Wei's remarks at the shareholder meeting have further strengthened market expectations for TSMC's long-term growth potential. He pointed out that the global chip shortage is likely to persist for several years. Jensen Huang's assessment of Nvidia's own supply constraints also corroborates the depth of this imbalance from the demand side.
In response to this trend, TSMC has adjusted its 2026 capital expenditure guidance upward, moving toward the $56 billion upper limit. This demonstrates its proactive stance on expansion investment and sends a clear signal to customers about its commitment to ensuring long-term supply capacity.
Consumer Electronics Segment Faces Pressure, Posing a Potential Drag
However, TSMC's business is not uniformly positive. The company also supplies chips for smartphones and consumer electronics manufacturers, a market currently facing dual pressures. Significant increases in memory chip costs and the ongoing erosion of consumer confidence due to rising living expenses are negatively impacting the operating conditions of related clients.
This implies that, despite the strong momentum in its AI chip business, TSMC's overall growth remains somewhat constrained by the cyclical weakness in consumer electronics demand. The structural divergence between these two business lines is a key variable investors need to monitor continuously when assessing the company's full-year performance.