By Pia Singh
Publication Date: 2026-01-15 19:45:00
Robust earnings results from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company just gave a huge lift to the artificial intelligence trade. TSMC on Thursday posted a 35% year-over-year increase in profit for its fourth quarter, handily beating Wall Street’s estimates and hitting a fresh record. Its high-performance computing division, which includes artificial intelligence and 5G applications, made up the majority of sales for the quarter. TSMC is the world’s largest dedicated contract chipmaker: It manufactures the advanced AI chips that “fabless” companies like Nvidia design. Nvidia, Broadcom and Advanced Micro Devices are among TSMC’s clients. Relentless AI demand is expected to push TSMC’s spending even higher, lifting Wall Street’s sentiment on the sector. The company said that its capital expenditures were expected to reach between $52 billion and $56 billion in 2026, as compared to $40.9 billion in 2025. TSM 1Y mountain Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing stock performance over the past year. Shares of TSMC jumped more than 5% on Thursday, bringing their year-to-date gain to about 13%. Several big-name chip stocks also rose during the session on the back of TSMC’s blowout results: Nvidia and Broadcom jumped 3% and more than 1%, respectively, while the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) hit a fresh 52-week high. TSMC’s results lift other AI-related plays Not only did Wall Street analysts reiterate their bullish ratings on TSMC, they also boosted their outlook on other AI plays…