TSM Stock Rises Overnight: CFO Says 'Don't Plan To Leave Food On Table' After Confirming Bumped-Up US Investment

Last week, media reports revealed that TSMC is raising its planned U.S. investment by $100 billion, largely for its Arizona operations.

• “We’re seeing this strong-structure, multi-year demand” for chips, TSMC CFO Wendell Huang told CNBC.
• TSMC is aggressively optimizing its leading-edge capacities, including a planned shift to the advanced 3-nanometer node process.
• The Taiwanese giant’s stock slid sharply in the past week despite reporting upbeat quarterly results.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s U.S.-listed stock rose 0.4% in overnight trading ahead of Monday, after a sharp slide last week despite reporting upbeat quarterly numbers. Even as its shares are pressured, the Taiwanese powerhouse is accelerating capacity expansion in the U.S. and Taiwan to meet booming demand for its chip manufacturing services.

“We’re seeing this strong-structure, multi-year demand, and we do not plan to leave any food on the table for anybody else,” TSMC’s CFO Wendell Huang said in an interview with CNBC on Sunday. “As long as the megatrend is right, then we’re able to continue to deliver the profitable growth to our shareholders.” 

Huang’s comment came after media reports last week suggested TSMC has raised its planned U.S. investment by $100 billion to $265 billion, largely for its Arizona operations. The chipmaker said the additional spending could support four more fabs in the state, taking the total to 10.

The world’s largest contract chipmaker, TSMC, is aggressively optimizing its leading-edge capacities, including a fast conversion of its 5-nanometer capacity to the advanced 3-nanometer node to support customers, Huang told the news network.

The first phase of TSMC’s U.S. expansion, using the 4-nanometer technology, is already up and running, he said. “It’s going to be bigger and bigger in the next few quarters,” Huang said, framing the 2-nanometer technology as the company’s newest revenue driver heading into the third quarter.

TSMC Q2 Recap

TSMC’s second-quarter revenue increased 38% to NT$1.27 trillion (about $40 billion) and profit rose a handsome 77% to NT$706.56 billion – beating analysts’ estimates on both counts.

Still, shares have sold off excessively amid a broader semiconductor rout and a rotation into Big Tech and software stocks. TSM stock has declined about 18% from its peak on June 30.

Retail View On TSMC

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment for TSM was ‘extremely bullish,’ unchanged since last Monday, with the ticker's watcher count rising 1.3% over the past week. Several users reposted the Arizona expansion news and pointed to Alphabet’s and Intel’s earnings this week as key catalysts for the AI trade.

“Good news stopped being enough for AI leaders. TSM and MU had the numbers, but price is telling us that digestion through time or a correction is needed,” said a trader. 

TSMC makes cutting-edge semiconductors for the likes of Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices.

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