Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. reported its highest-ever monthly sales in June, with consolidated revenue of NT$442.68 billion (US$13.8 billion), a 67.9 per cent year-on-year leap. The figure pushed second-quarter revenue to NT$1.27 trillion, a 36 per cent increase from the same period last year and a fresh quarterly high. The numbers, released ahead of the company’s investor conference on Thursday, confirm that the global buildout of artificial intelligence infrastructure continues to accelerate, with TSMC’s advanced chips and packaging technologies at its core.

The demand is being driven by hyperscale data-centre operators and AI model developers, with TSMC’s high-performance computing platform—which includes AI accelerators—now accounting for 61 per cent of revenue. Chief Executive C.C. Wei has described AI demand as “extremely robust,” and the company’s most advanced 2-nanometre process, which entered high-volume manufacturing late last year, is ramping at two sites with stable yields. Yet capacity remains a bottleneck. TSMC’s CoWoS advanced packaging, essential for integrating multiple chips, is even more constrained than chip output; Nvidia has reportedly booked 60 per cent of available CoWoS capacity through 2026. The company is addressing this by building packaging facilities in Arizona and expanding two sites in Taiwan.

The AI boom is reshaping Taiwan’s entire economy. Academia Sinica, the island’s top research institution, now forecasts GDP growth of 10.16 per cent this year, up from a December estimate of 3.71 per cent, driven by a 23 per cent surge in exports. For the first time since 1992, Taiwanese goods and services exports to the United States have surpassed those to China, reaching US$116 billion in the year to May, making Taiwan the third-largest supplier to the US market after Mexico and Canada. TSMC alone derived 74 per cent of its 2025 revenue from US customers, and the company has committed US$165 billion to building advanced fabs and packaging plants in Arizona, with the first already in mass production.

Despite the momentum, investor caution persists. The capital-intensive nature of the foundry business means TSMC’s spending—budgeted at the high end of a US$52–56 billion range this year—carries risk if AI demand moderates. Analysts in London and New York note that major cloud providers such as Alphabet are funding infrastructure with heavy borrowing, and the path to profitable returns remains unproven. TSMC’s Thursday conference will therefore be scrutinised for any adjustment to its capital expenditure guidance, updates on overseas expansion, and the outlook for the second half of 2026. The company’s ability to balance breakneck growth with financial discipline will be the central question.