Gins Wang Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing ( TSM ) raised its revenue outlook for 2026, driven by AI chip demand, after the global foundry's first quarter net income surged 58% year-over-year. Shares of TSM climbed about 1% premarket on Thursday. Q1 Metrics TSMC — which produces chips for some of the world's largest tech companies, including Apple ( AAPL ), Nvidia ( NVDA ) and AMD ( AMD ) — saw ...
Gins Wang Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing ( TSM ) raised its revenue outlook for 2026, driven by AI chip demand, after the global foundry's first quarter net income surged 58% year-over-year. Shares of TSM climbed about 1% premarket on Thursday. Q1 Metrics TSMC — which produces chips for some of the world's largest tech companies, including Apple ( AAPL ), Nvidia ( NVDA ) and AMD ( AMD ) — saw first quarter 2026 net revenue grow 40.6% year-over-year to $35.9B (NT$1.134T, +35.1% Y/Y). “Our business in the first quarter was supported by strong demand for our leading-edge process technologies,” said Wendell Huang, senior vice president and CFO of TSM. The company's net income attributable to shareholders of the company soared 58.3% year-over-year to NT$572.48B, beating analysts estimates of NT$542.4B, according to a report from Bloomberg News. "AI-related demand continues to be extremely robust," said TSM's CEO C.C. Wei on the earnings call. TSM noted that its capital spending this year would be at the high end of earlier guidance of $52B to $56B. Huang said on the call that TSM's first quarter capital expenditures totaled $11.1B. "At TSMC, a higher level of capital expenditures is always correlated with higher growth opportunities in the following years. With our strong technology leadership and differentiation, we are well-positioned to capture the multi-year structural demand from the industry megatrends of 5G, AI, and HPC," said Huang on the call. Middle East Impact Huang said, given the recent situation in the Middle East, prices for certain chemicals and gasesare likely to increase. He noted that based on their current assessment, "there may be impact to our profitability, but it is too early to quantify the impact." "We are also working closely with our suppliers to further strengthen the resiliency and sustainability of our supply chain. Thus, we do not expect any near-term impact on our operations for material supply. In terms of energy, TSMC works closel...
Images By Tang Ming Tung/DigitalVision via Getty Images April 2026 – Dire Strait 2026 has been defined so far by a relentless series of geopolitical events. Markets absorbed these shocks through January and February—alongside episodic Artificial Intelligence-related (AI) volatility—but ultimately faltered in March amid escalating conflict in the Middle East. The war in Iran has had material and fa...
Images By Tang Ming Tung/DigitalVision via Getty Images April 2026 – Dire Strait 2026 has been defined so far by a relentless series of geopolitical events. Markets absorbed these shocks through January and February—alongside episodic Artificial Intelligence-related (AI) volatility—but ultimately faltered in March amid escalating conflict in the Middle East. The war in Iran has had material and far-reaching consequences, with disruptions in global energy markets reverberating across bond yields, asset prices, and inflation expectations. Were this any other year, the sheer number of geopolitical shifts would already have made it one for the books. In January, the United States entered Venezuela and detained its president. At the same time, tensions between the U.S. and its traditional allies intensified over America’s stated desire to annex Greenland, culminating in a moment when Prime Minister Mark Carney publicly rebuked the U.S., describing a “rupture, not a transition” in the global order. In February, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that tariff authority rests with Congress rather than the executive branch, only for the administration to introduce sweeping new tariffs the same day. Then, in March, the United States initiated its most significant military campaign in the Middle East in decades. As Figure 1 illustrates, crude oil spiked more than 50% as global shipping all but shut down through the Strait of Hormuz. Previous expectations for Federal Reserve rate cuts dissipated, inflation expectations repriced higher, and concerns about the broader impact of the energy shock intensified. All this, and we are only in April. Global equity markets have been, needless to say, challenged by this environment. Although the S&P 500 Index has declined nearly 4% to date, it took a last-minute tweet from the White House (announcing a possible halt to the war) to mitigate much larger losses. European equities have also generally moved lower, with broad indices down mid-single di...
Ukrainian president says nearly 700 Russian drones and 19 ballistic missiles mostly targeted Kyiv, Odesa and Dnipro The Kremlin’s latest deadly attack comes after the end of a 32-hour Orthodox Easter truce marred by accusations of mass violations , according to both countries, AFP noted. Peace talks spearheaded by the United States t o end the war now grinding through its fifth year have been dera...
Ukrainian president says nearly 700 Russian drones and 19 ballistic missiles mostly targeted Kyiv, Odesa and Dnipro The Kremlin’s latest deadly attack comes after the end of a 32-hour Orthodox Easter truce marred by accusations of mass violations , according to both countries, AFP noted. Peace talks spearheaded by the United States t o end the war now grinding through its fifth year have been derailed by US and Israeli war with Iran, it noted. Continue reading...
Two renovation subcontractors involved in a HK$336 million (US$42.9 million) project at a Hong Kong subsidised estate ravaged by the city’s deadliest fire in decades have conceded they did not regulate workers’ smoking behaviour before the inferno. The two engineering firms on Thursday also told an independent committee that they had partially replaced fireproof windows at Wang Fuk Court’s evacuat...
Two renovation subcontractors involved in a HK$336 million (US$42.9 million) project at a Hong Kong subsidised estate ravaged by the city’s deadliest fire in decades have conceded they did not regulate workers’ smoking behaviour before the inferno. The two engineering firms on Thursday also told an independent committee that they had partially replaced fireproof windows at Wang Fuk Court’s evacuation passages with movable wooden boards to allow workers’ easy access to scaffolding at the behest...