TAIPEI (Reuters) – Shares of TSMC listed on the Taipei Stock Exchange hit a record high on Friday after the world’s largest contract chipmaker posted third-quarter earnings that beat estimates and provided a bright outlook for strong artificial intelligence (AI) demand.
Shares closed up 4.8% at T$1,085 ($33.77), topping the previous record of T$1,080 on July 11. This gives TSMC a market capitalization of around $874 billion, the highest of any listed company in Asia. The benchmark index ended 1.9% higher.
However, the company appears to be facing political uncertainty after US media outlet Information said the US Department of Commerce was investigating whether it had made AI or smartphone chips for China’s Huawei, whose access to non-Chinese chips has been restricted by US exports. control.
TSMC, which has Apple (NASDAQ 🙂 and Nvidia (NASDAQ 🙂 among its customers, has benefited from the surge in AI across a wide spectrum of industries.
TSMC reported a forecast-beating 54% jump in quarterly profit on Thursday, raised its revenue forecast for this year and said the next five years would also be “healthy.”
The shares could still climb higher, said Venson Tsai, analyst at Cathay Futures Consultants in Taipei.
“TSMC’s stock price does not yet fully reflect the long-term rising wave of AI,” he said.
Following the US investigation report, TSMC said on Friday that it was a law-abiding company and committed to complying with laws and regulations, including export controls.
“If we have reason to believe there is a potential problem, we will take immediate action to ensure compliance,” he said.
Such actions include conducting investigations and communicating proactively with parties such as customers and regulatory authorities as needed, he added.
The US Department of Commerce declined to comment, as did Taiwan’s Ministry of Economy, which is tasked with ensuring export controls are followed.
In July 2020, TSMC said it had stopped accepting new orders from Huawei and had no plans to ship wafers after that September.($1=32.1190 Taiwan dollars)
