Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Raises Market Forecast

TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker, has significantly raised its forecast for the global semiconductor market, now expecting it to exceed $1.5 trillion by 2030, up from a previous estimate of $1 trillion. This upward revision is primarily attributed to the surging demand for artificial intelligence and high-performance computing, which are projected to constitute 55% of the future market. Smartphones and automotive applications are expected to account for 20% and 10% respectively. To meet this anticipated demand, TSMC is accelerating its capacity expansion, planning to build nine phases of wafer fabrication plants and advanced packaging facilities in 2026. The company forecasts rapid growth in production capacity for its advanced 2-nanometer and A16 chips, as well as its critical CoWoS packaging technology, which is widely used in AI chips designed by companies like Nvidia. TSMC also provided updates on its global manufacturing footprint, with its first Arizona fab already in production and further expansion underway, including the purchase of additional land. In Japan, the first fab is in mass production, and plans for the second have been upgraded to 3-nanometer technology. Construction of its fab in Germany is also progressing on schedule.