On July 18, TSMC hosted its second-quarter earnings call. During the call, CFO Huang Ren-Siao disclosed that TSMC anticipates its third-quarter revenue to be between $22.4 billion and $23.2 billion, marking a projected quarterly increase of 7.6% to 11.4% from the second quarter's $20.82 billion revenue. This suggests that TSMC's single-quarter US dollar revenue is on track to reach an all-time high.

Huang Ren-Siao also mentioned that, assuming an exchange rate of 1 US dollar to 32.5 New Taiwan dollars, the company expects a gross margin of 53.5% to 55.5% and an operating margin of 42.5% to 44.5%. The significant increase in gross margin exceeded market expectations, with analysts attributing this primarily to the smooth ramp-up and improved yield of TSMC's 3nm business.

In the second quarter, TSMC's 3nm business showed strong performance, effectively offsetting the seasonal factors in the smartphone market. Huang Ren-Siao noted that high-performance computing (HPC) revenue increased by 28% quarter-over-quarter, contributing more to the company's revenue than the smartphone business. The smartphone business accounted for 33% of the revenue, and the decline in inventory turnover days was mainly due to the increased shipments of 3nm products.

Prior to the earnings call, TSMC announced its financial results for the second quarter ending June 30, 2024. The second quarter's revenue was NT$673.51 billion, with a net profit of NT$247.85 billion and diluted earnings per share of NT$9.56. Huang Ren-Siao stated that TSMC's financial indicators for the second quarter, including revenue, gross margin, and operating margin, were better than the company's expectations but generally in line with the expectations of institutional investors.

For the full year of 2024, TSMC expects its revenue growth rate to be between 24% and 26%. Previously, TSMC had estimated the revenue growth rate for the year to be between 21% and 26% in the last earnings call, narrowing the expected range in this call.

In terms of capital expenditure, Huang Ren-Siao announced that the lower limit for 2024 has been raised to $30 billion, while the upper limit remains at $32 billion. He emphasized that the adjustment of capital expenditure is based on a cautious assessment of market demand. This adjustment reflects TSMC's confidence in the future market and its continued investment and expansion plans in the semiconductor field.