By Wen-Yee Lee
HSINCHU, Taiwan, June 4 (Reuters) – Taiwan’s TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, is confident in its growth over the next few years, thanks to robust demand for computing power and advanced semiconductors as it rides a relentless AI boom, its CEO said on Thursday.
C.C. Wei, speaking at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting in the Taiwanese city of Hsinchu, said customers are still positive on the outlook for artificial intelligence, although the company continues to monitor the impact of rising component costs.
“We continue to see increasing adoption of AI models across consumer, enterprise and sovereign AI applications,” Wei said, adding that while the company is working very hard, demand is high and it can only produce so much.
“This trend is driving demand for greater computing power, which in turn supports strong demand for advanced semiconductor chips.”
Asked whether TSMC could raise prices for customers, Wei said: “I’d like to do that … we still need to make money.”
“We don’t want to suddenly raise prices like memory companies do. That’s not sustainable. TSMC is focused on long-term, sustainable operations. We’re not that kind of company.”
Taiwan plays a crucial role in the global AI supply chain for companies including Nvidia and Apple, and its position is anchored by TSMC.
The Taiwanese tech giant said it was working hard to meet all customer demands, although it will take a “very long time” to fully satisfy American customers’ needs with production in the U.S., he said, without elaborating on a time frame.
TSMC is investing $165 billion to build new factories in the U.S. state of Arizona, where Wei said the company’s two parcels of land there should be sufficient for the next 10 years.
He said TSMC’s stock performance over the past year had been remarkable, with its share price climbing to T$2,425 by Wednesday, up from T$950 on June 3 last year.
Its shares were down more than 1% on Thursday, in line with the benchmark index.
Asked whether TSMC wanted to invest in ASML’s next-generation High-NA EUV machines, which can cost up to $400 million each, Wei said his company had purchased the Dutch firm’s High-NA tools and was conducting R&D efforts. The machines are advanced lithography systems that are used to transfer intricate patterns onto silicon wafers to form integrated circuits and other devices.
“We do not currently need it for production because the cost is still somewhat high,” he said. “We will continue working to lower the cost and maximize its benefits and once the economics make sense, we will bring it into production.”
Amid recent worker tensions over pay in South Korea, where Samsung Electronics last month clinched a deal with its union to avert a strike, TSMC said it was fully committed to taking care of its employees, underscoring how the beneficiaries of a massive AI boom are coming under growing pressure to share more of their rapidly growing income.
“(Our) employee profit sharing increased by about 30% from 2023 to 2024 and again by about 30% from 2024 to 2025,” he said. “We are confident it will rise by another 30% in 2026.”
“We believe this represents strong compensation for our employees,” he said, adding that there is no ceiling for 30% annual growth in terms of employee profit sharing as it will continue to grow.
Looking ahead, Wei said he views autonomous vehicles as long-term growth drivers and the company will be working hard to ensure robots can succeed. Taiwan remains TSMC’s most efficient manufacturing area, which is home to its best talent, core R&D and largest production base, he added.
Taiwan has grabbed the spotlight this week as it hosts the annual Computex conference, where leaders of some of the world’s most powerful tech companies are gathering. Executives from the likes of Nvidia and Intel have heaped praise on the island’s central role in the global supply chain.
In April, TSMC, a major Nvidia supplier, raised its annual revenue forecast and said it was stepping up capital spending this year to meet relentless demand for its products.
TSMC faces political risk as China steps up military pressure on democratically and separately governed Taiwan, which Beijing views as “sacred” Chinese territory.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has held court in Taiwan over the past few days, dining with South Korean technology leaders and signing autographs for some of his fans, just weeks after accompanying U.S. President Donald Trump on a visit to Beijing as part of a high-profile corporate delegation.
(Reporting by Wen-Yee Lee; Editing by Anne Marie Roantree, Muralikumar Anantharaman and Thomas Derpinghaus)
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