TSMC's top brass insist it is not entertaining a joint venture with beleaguered chip biz Intel, though it is steeling itself for potential effects from the Trump administration's ever-changing tariff schemes.
The comments were made by CEO C.C. Wei during a conference call with analysts for TSMC's calendar Q1, in which it reported a 35 percent year-on-year revenue spike to $25.53 billion, albeit down 5.1 percent versus the previous quarter.
Contrary to reports in recent months, Wei said TSMC "is not engaged in any discussion with other companies regarding any joint venture, technology licensing or technology."
This was in response to a question over persistent chatter linking the Taiwanese firm with stumbling chip biz Intel. These have variously claimed that TSMC would help run Intel's US fabrication plants and even take a stake in Intel, to suggestions that Broadcom and TSMC would carve up Chipzooky between them.
TSMC would seemingly have enough on its hands already, what with building fabs in Arizona. On this point, Wei estimates that the facilities will make up 30 percent of its 2nm capacity once operational.
This is primarily driven by customer demand from clients such as Nvidia and AMD rather than in response to the threat of tariffs, according to TSMC.
As The Register reported this week, AMD has validated its fifth-gen Epyc server CPUs for production at TSMC's facility in Arizona, and said its sixth-gen Venice parts would be made using the Taiwanese firm's 2nm process when they arrive in 2026.
The company said it had not yet decided whether future advanced process nodes such as its A14 (1.4nm) and A10 (1nm) technologies would also be put into operation in its US facilities.
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Wei had earlier announced the company would spend $100 billion on operations in Arizona during a meeting with President Trump last month, before the tariff fiasco started in earnest.
On the hokey-cokey POTUS's tax policies, which seemingly change from week to week, TSMC's chief beancounter said on the same conference call that the levies are adding a dollop of unpredictability to the mix.
Chief financial officer Wendell Huang said: "While we have not seen any changes in our customers' behavior so far, uncertainties and risks from the potential impact from tariff policies exist. We will continue to closely monitor the potential impact on the end market demand, and manage our business prudently."
TSMC's financial estimates for Q1 were bang on the money when it forecast a bump from AI and a minor dent from "smartphone seasonality." Net income jumped 60 percent year-on-year to $11.12 billion.
During the last quarter, 5nm wafers accounted for the biggest chunk of TSMC's production revenue at 36 percent, with 3nm at 22 percent, while 7nm actually increased slightly to 15 percent. In terms of platform, HPC is by far the largest segment, accounting for 59 percent of revenue and up 7 percent. Smartphone silicon, the next largest, shrank by 22 percent to represent 28 percent of revenue.
Looking ahead to the end of Q2, TSMC calculates revenue to land somewhere between $28.4 billion and $29.2 billion, based on the strong demand it expects for its 3nm and 5nm technologies. This is despite the threat of future tariffs on semiconductor imports by the US. ®
