(Nov 10): Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co posted a 60% increase in monthly sales, reflecting the company’s central role in a global AI infrastructure build-out.

The go-to chipmaker for Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc reported October revenue of NT$586.9 billion (RM72.39 billion). That pace was up from around 51% for the September quarter. Analysts on average are projecting 63% growth for the year’s final three months.

Taiwan’s largest company last month delivered a better-than-expected revenue outlook, sustaining a torrid pace of growth in the post-ChatGPT era. Yet investors continue to grapple with the longer-term outlook for AI demand, given the rising cost of financing expensive and resource-hungry data centres. TSMC’s shares have gyrated alongside the rest of the tech sector, buffeted by fears that the Democrats’ sweep of Congress in the US midterms may lead to tougher oversight of the artificial intelligence sector.

TSMC — a key barometer for the industry because it makes chips for a broad swathe of tech players — is betting on a fundamental shift. It is trying to build and furnish about 20 factories at home and overseas, an unprecedented pace for a company that typically works on four or five new buildings simultaneously.

CEO C C Wei has stressed, though, that it remains in prudent expansion mode, exploring a new manufacturing site in Texas while discussing a potential tie-up with Elon Musk’s Terafab chipmaking endeavour.

The company has so far managed to accelerate sales growth and ramped up capacity expansion. The company reiterated its capital expenditures will reach as much as US$64 billion (RM259.36 billion), a record, this year.

Uploaded by Arion Yeow