AI chip demand drives! Taiwan Semiconductor's November sales increased by 34% year-on-year, but turned negative month-on-month

Driven by the demand for AI chips, TSMC's sales in November showed a strong growth momentum overall, but there was a month-on-month decline, and concerns about the slowdown in data center construction remain.

On Tuesday, December 10, TSMC announced its sales figures for November. November sales amounted to NT$276.06 billion, a year-on-year increase of 34%, but a month-on-month decrease of 12.2%. Although this was slightly lower than analysts' forecast of a 36.3% year-on-year growth for the quarter, TSMC's stock performance this year remains strong, rising by about 80%.

The revenue from January to November 2024 was NT$2.61615 trillion, an increase of 31.8% compared to the same period in 2023.

TSMC's stock fell by 0.93% today.

Bloomberg analyst Charles Shum pointed out that TSMC holds a leading position in pricing power, further consolidating its market position. Last month's data showed that TSMC's sales in October were NT$314.24 billion, a year-on-year increase of 29.2% and a month-on-month increase of 24.8%.

On December 6, Taiwan's Economic Daily reported that TSMC has completed trial production of 2nm process wafers at its Baoshan factory in Hsinchu County. The report stated that the yield rate for this trial production reached 60%, significantly exceeding the company's internal expectations.

According to TSMC Chairman Wei Zhejia's statement at the third-quarter earnings call, the market demand for the 2nm process is enormous, and customer orders may exceed those for the 3nm process in the future. According to TSMC's previously announced roadmap, chips using the N2 process will have a performance improvement of 10%-15% over N3E (the second generation of the 3nm process) at the same power consumption.

On the 6th, JP Morgan analysts Gokul Hariharan and Robert Hsu released a report, believing that the strong demand for AI hardware will continue, and TSMC's gross margin still has room for improvement.

It is expected that by 2026, TSMC's AI revenue will grow by 40%-50%, and the overall gross margin may rise to 60%-65%; the company's capital expenditure guidance for next year is expected to be over $36 billion, with total monthly capacity for the N2 node process reaching 20,000 wafers by the end of next year. TSMC Q3 Financial Report shows that TSMC's revenue for the period reached USD 23.504 billion, a year-on-year increase of 36.27%; net profit reached USD 10.063 billion, a year-on-year increase of 50.18%