(Bloomberg) — Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. said first-quarter sales are set to be at the lower end of its forecast range after several quakes affected production in January.
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Losses from the quakes were about about NT$5.3 billion ($161 million) net of insurance claims, TSMC said in a statement on Monday, adding it is “making every effort to recover the lost production.”
The company maintained its first-quarter gross profit margin will reach 57% to 59%, and upheld its full-year outlook. The first-quarter revenue guidance provided a few days before the earthquakes hit was $25 billion to $25.8 billion.
Revenue in January grew 36% to NT$293.3 billion, compared with a 38.8% increase in the October-December period. Analysts on average are looking for a 41% increase in sales in the current quarter through March.
Deciphering Taiwanese companies’ sales during the first months of the year, however, is complicated by the multi-day Lunar New Year holiday, which can fall on either January or February.
Major tech companies including Microsoft Corp., Alphabet Inc., and Meta Platforms Inc. have all announced plans to invest tens of billions of dollars this year in AI and appeared unfazed by the success of the seemingly lower-cost models from Chinese startup DeepSeek. Amazon.com Inc. alone is aiming to spend $100 billion on AI.
Before DeepSeek roiled the market in January, TSMC said its capital expenditure may hit a record $42 billion this year on AI demand. That optimism was amplified by key TSMC equipment supplier ASML Holding NV after the DeepSeek saga.
TSMC’s outlook is overshadowed by US President Donald Trump’s threats to slap tariffs on semiconductor imports, although it is unclear whether that may indeed happen. The company is expected to hold its board meeting in Arizona, home to its most advanced plant in the US, this week, according to Taiwan’s Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo.
(Updates the 1st, 2nd and 3rd paragraphs with details on earthquake impact.)
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