TSMC $TSM Q1 profit jumps 58.3%; Q2 sales guide reaches $40.2B

TSMC $TSM delivered a 58.3% year-over-year jump in first-quarter net income to NT$572.48 billion, ahead of the NT$543.32 billion LSEG SmartEstimate cited by CNBC. Revenue reached NT$1.134 trillion, or about $35 billion, against NT$1.127 trillion expected. The result was another record quarter for the foundry that manufactures chips for Apple, Nvidia and other AI-linked customers.

The company’s own 2026Q1 quarterly results show first-quarter net revenue of $35.90 billion, above its prior $34.6 billion-$35.8 billion guidance range. Gross margin was 66.2% and operating margin was 58.1%, both above the midpoint of management’s earlier ranges. That margin profile matters because leading-edge wafer demand remains strong even as chipmakers carry higher energy, chemical and logistics risks from the Middle East conflict.

The next-quarter guide was the market-moving number. TSMC projected second-quarter revenue of $39.0 billion-$40.2 billion, with gross margin of 65.5%-67.5% and operating margin of 56.5%-58.5%. CNBC reported that management also expects full-year 2026 revenue growth of more than 30% in U.S. dollar terms, keeping the company in a rare earnings cycle where both sales growth and margins remain elevated.

The mix explains the durability. High-performance computing, which includes AI and 5G workloads, accounted for 61% of first-quarter revenue. Advanced chips of 7 nanometers or smaller represented 74% of wafer revenue, while 3-nanometer shipments alone accounted for 25%. That means TSMC is not simply benefiting from broad semiconductor demand; it is capturing the highest-value portion of the AI infrastructure buildout.

The next checks are the second-quarter revenue range, whether helium and hydrogen supply remains stable, and how quickly new advanced capacity in Taiwan and overseas can come online. For Korean and Japanese investors, the read-through is direct: TSMC’s numbers keep pressure on memory, equipment and packaging suppliers across the Asian semiconductor chain.