Crunch week for chips: ASML and TSMC report results – record profit expected
Two key chip industry players report this week: ASML on Wednesday, TSMC on Thursday. Analysts expect the Taiwanese contract manufacturer's profit to jump 65 percent.
Archive image · Photo: HHahn / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped and resized)
A pivotal week is starting for the semiconductor industry. Dutch lithography specialist ASML is expected to publish its quarterly report on Wednesday, followed on Thursday by TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker. Both are seen as gauges of how busy chip factories are and whether the current investment cycle around artificial intelligence will last. TSMC had already released its revenue figures; the focus now is on profit and outlook.
According to an LSEG estimate based on 16 analysts, TSMC is likely to report third-quarter net profit of 746.3 billion Taiwan dollars (23.4 billion US dollars), up 65 percent year on year. According to Reuters, that would be its sixth consecutive record quarter. The company has a market value of around 2.1 trillion dollars and raised its 2026 capital spending plans to 60 to 64 billion dollars in July. TSMC is investing a total of 265 billion dollars in Arizona. How high expectations are is also shown by a global semiconductor index fund from iShares, which is up 98 percent since the start of the year. Financial portal Börse Global expects price swings to stay elevated ahead of the reports.