TSMC remains a long: Intel winning foundry business is only Intel picking up work where TSMC lacked capacity, partly because TSMC wasn't aggressive enough adding capacity, rather than a competitive threat. x.comÂ
Nick Dorsey
Deals Lead at Compute Exchange, Building Joule14
TSMC's earnings growth is still underestimated, about 30% a year for the foreseeable future, and earnings rather than multiple expansion will drive returns. It is too cheap to ignore and pays a nice dividend. Investors are far ahead of themselves thinking Intel can compete; as Jensen Huang said, TSMC's edge includes reliability and trust, not just technology. Adopting High-NA EUV later reflects its own ROI analysis, not being behind, and its deep Apple relationship should only strengthen. x.com x.com x.com x.com x.com x.com x.com x.com x.comÂ
TSMC should benefit as CoWoS packaging is relieved, because the extra volume flows back into its front-end fabs. Per TrendForce, TSMC is taking CoWoS from about 130k wafers a month at end-2026 to 260k by end-2028, while 2nm and 3nm also grow. C.C. Wei said outside packaging capacity helps the wafer business, still most of TSMC. OSATs can win packaging while TSMC owns the bigger upstream prize. The view fails if CoWoS alternatives ramp and TSMC's HPC wafer growth stalls. x.comÂ
TSMC's strong AI demand is straining supply, while solid company fundamentals and attractive semiconductor valuations make an abrupt stop to its advance unlikely. TSMC's Wendell Huang expects 2026-28 capex to be significantly higher than in the previous three years to support customer growth; he says most capex is tied to long-term demand. x.comÂ
TSMC may lose pricing power as performance gains shift from shrinking transistors to stacking, interconnects and optics, while logic folding could make older processes competitive. Despite strong leading-edge demand, investors may overestimate the profit share its node leadership can retain. Its cautious expansion and past reluctance toward advanced packaging suggest a risk-averse culture that protects returns but could leave it late to disruptive technologies and key customers. x.comÂ
TSMC's record quarter shows chip demand is accelerating, not peaking. Q3 revenue was about $46.7 billion (NT$1.49 trillion), up 51% year over year and above both the top of TSMC's guidance and Street estimates of NT$1.46 trillion. Quarterly revenue is up about 2.4x in three years. Despite bubble fears, the AI buildout still looks early and TSMC can go much higher than people realize. x.comÂ
TSMC sits in the part of AI's profit chain that everyone has to pass through. AI profits are split extremely unevenly: Nvidia earned $130.4 billion, several times everyone else combined, while server makers like Dell earn thin margins and model makers bleed, with OpenAI losing $8 billion on $13 billion of revenue. The best bets are high-barrier picks and shovels like Nvidia GPUs, TSMC's advanced packaging and HBM; server hardware and most AI apps likely destroy value. x.comÂ
TSMC's conservative delay in high-NA adoption will be its downfall as Intel's stitching advances sooner. TSMC's larger-mask alternative requires changing the entire stage and is projected for production by 2033; Intel's stitching is substantially derisked and could be ready for volume production in 2027 at the earliest. TSMC's CoWoS and CoPoS shortcomings add to the concern. x.comÂ
TSMC's capacity-constrained growth is holding margins through its costly 2nm ramp. Its Q4 revenue guide of $52.3-54.3B beats $49B consensus, implying 14% sequential growth, with 65-67% gross-margin guidance; planned Q4 capex is $19-23B versus $13.8B last quarter. World Trade Securities maintains Overweight and a $620 target. TSMC is also in talks to run Elon Musk's proposed Texas Terafab; additional fab and equipment demand depends on a deal. x.com x.comÂ
TSMC is the one company the AI chip boom cannot happen without, since every advanced chip runs through its fabs and Apple, Nvidia, AMD and Qualcomm all depend on it. Q1 profit rose 58% to a record and revenue grew 35% to $35B, with high-performance computing now 61% of sales. It is spending $52-56B on capex this year to build capacity competitors are a decade behind replicating. x.comÂ
TSMC's shifting cost structure is pressuring gross margin despite revenue and EPS beats. TSMC reported Q3 gross margin of 66.4%, down from 67.7% in Q2, and another decline is guided next quarter; Arizona is expected to drag gross margin by 2-4%. TSMC is checking AI data-center progress as it plans wafer capacity, while reiterating long-term AI demand strength. Price hikes may be next, given management's commitment to protect shareholder interests. x.com x.comÂ
TSMC is irreplaceable as the maker of the world's most advanced chips for Nvidia, Apple and AMD. x.comÂ