TSMC May Announce Record-Breaking Q4 Profit, Thanks to AI Boom

Say what you will about the AI boom's life expectancy, but there's no question that it fueled a banner year for some of the biggest tech companies. TSMC will hold its earnings conference call this Thursday. SmartEstimate analysts are expecting a roughly $15 billion net profit for TSMC in Q4 of 2025. Reuters notes that would mark a 27% Q4 bump.

The source of that success is, in large part, AI—specifically, the massive demand for AI chips from companies building AI data centers. As AI came onto the world stage and Nvidia designed new chips for TSMC to build, its fortunes rose, and its operations shifted. By 2024, the company found itself with better earnings from its AI chip production than it had from making chips for smartphones.

TSMC's 3nm-class N3 node has played a major role in sustaining its momentum, with top-tier customers such as ...