TSMC's Q1 Revenue Growth Beats Market Expectations as Artificial Intelligence Booms

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan chipmaker TSMC on Wednesday reported first-quarter revenue growth of 16.51 TP3T, beating market expectations and hitting the upper end of the company's own guidance, as demand for artificial intelligence applications led to a surge in sales.

The world's largest maker of software-enabled chips, whose customers include Apple and Nvidia, has benefited from a wave of artificial intelligence that has helped it stave off a pandemic-induced contraction in demand, driving TSMC's shares to record highs.

Revenue for the first three months of the year was NT$592.64 billion (US$18.54 billion), up from US$16.72 billion in the same period last year.

This is similar to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company's (TSMC) previous forecast of first-quarter revenue between $18 billion and $18.8 billion.

This exceeded LSEG SmartEstimate's forecast of NT$581.45 billion from 23 analysts, mainly those who are consistently more accurate.

The first half of the year has been a traditionally slow period for Taiwan's tech companies, as the year-end holiday rush for items such as tablets and smartphones has passed in key Western markets, but even in the off-season, the artificial intelligence trend is fueling demand.

In March alone, TSMC's revenue grew by 34.3% YoY to reach NT$195.21 billion, up 7.5% YoY.

TSMC, Asia's most valuable publicly traded company with a market capitalization of $662 billion, did not provide any details or forward-looking guidance in its condensed revenue statement.

The company is scheduled to report first quarter results on April 18, and will update its outlook for the quarter and full year.

According to LSEG SmartEstimate, TSMC's Q1 net profit is expected to grow by 4%.

TSMC's Taipei-listed shares closed down 0.51 TP3T on Wednesday ahead of the sales announcement, while Daban closed down 0.21 TP3T.

So far this year, the chipmaker's shares have jumped 37%, while Daban is up 16%.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard and Faith Hung; Editing by Kim Coghill and Jamie Freed)