AI in action · Markets
TSMC's October Sales Jump 59.7% on AI Chip Demand
TSMC's October revenue rose 59.7% from a year earlier to about NT$586.89 billion, up 14.7% from September, as demand for AI chips kept climbing.
The world's largest contract chipmaker reported its October sales on Tuesday, November 10: about NT$586.89 billion, roughly US$17.88 billion, up 59.7% from October 2025 and 14.7% from September, CNBC reported. Added to the NT$3,898.73 billion TSMC booked from January to September, according to its September filing with the SEC, that puts revenue for the first ten months of 2026 at about NT$4.49 trillion.
The month also gives a first read on the fourth quarter. TSMC guided to revenue of US$52.3 billion to US$54.3 billion for October–December, assuming an exchange rate of 31.8 New Taiwan dollars to the US dollar, which is about NT$1.66 trillion to NT$1.73 trillion. October alone delivered 34% to 35% of that range, slightly ahead of an even one-third pace, although monthly revenue moves with the timing of shipments and one month does not make a quarter.
Demand for advanced chips for AI data centres is doing most of the work. In the third quarter, chips made on the 3-nanometre process accounted for 33% of TSMC's wafer revenue, the company posted a record net profit of NT$763.1 billion and its operating margin reached 58.7%. For the fourth quarter it guided to a gross margin of 65% to 67%, and it expects capital spending from 2026 to 2028 to be significantly higher than in the previous three years.
The timing mattered after last week's sell-off, which was driven by fear that US politics would slow data-centre construction. Taiwan's exports rose 58.9% from a year earlier in October to $96.76 billion, with electronic components up 61.4%, and TSMC shares closed 2.24% higher on Tuesday in a volatile Taipei market, where the financial regulator had just cut the daily cap on intraday short-selling orders from 30% to 3%.
Revenue figures record orders placed months ago, so October confirms the 2026 build-out rather than settling the argument about 2027. That argument moves to Nvidia's results on November 17 and to the capital-spending plans of the cloud companies that buy what TSMC makes.
Sources: CNBC — TSMC's October sales jump as global chip boom rolls on (Nov 10, 2026); SEC EDGAR — TSMC Form 6-K, September 2026 revenue report; SEC EDGAR — TSMC Form 6-K, third-quarter 2026 earnings release with fourth-quarter guidance