TSMC Reports April 2026 Revenue of NT$410.73 Billion (US$12.6B) — Year-to-Date Growth Hits 29.9% on AI Demand Surge

By NineScrolls Team · 2026-05-10 · 5 min read · Industry

Headline Numbers

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TWSE: 2330, NYSE: TSM) on May 8, 2026 reported consolidated net revenue for April 2026 of approximately NT$410.73 billion (US$12.6 billion), a decrease of 1.1% from March 2026 and an increase of 17.5% from April 2025.

Revenue for January through April 2026 totaled NT$1,544.83 billion, an increase of 29.9% compared to the same period in 2025. The April figure represents the second-highest monthly revenue in TSMC's history, behind only March 2026's record NT$415.19 billion.

TSMC's Taiwan-listed shares closed down 0.87% at NT$2,290 on the day of the disclosure as the slight month-on-month decline drew brief attention, but analysts continue to view cumulative growth as the better signal of underlying demand.

YTD Momentum and AI Capex Backdrop

The April pullback against March is largely a seasonal adjustment after March's record month — March revenue surged 30.7% month-on-month and 45.2% year-on-year, pushing first-quarter revenue above the NT$1 trillion mark for the first time. April's 17.5% year-on-year growth keeps TSMC firmly in a high-growth band.

The core driver remains the AI capex super-cycle. Since the start of 2026, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft have collectively committed more than US$725 billion in AI capital expenditures, with TSMC the foundry of record for chips from Nvidia, AMD, and the major hyperscaler-internal accelerator programs.

TSMC's advanced process and advanced packaging capacities are reported to be fully utilized. Demand has broadened beyond GPUs and ASICs into CPUs, with Intel reporting that its GPU-to-CPU shipment ratio has shifted from 8:1 to 4:1 as agentic AI workloads pull more general-purpose compute back into data centers.

Capex Trajectory: 2nm Capacity Build-Out

TSMC has guided full-year 2026 capital expenditure toward the upper end of its US$52 billion to US$56 billion range, an increase of 27% to 37% from 2025. The bulk of that spend is earmarked for advanced-process capacity — 2nm (N2) and below — to absorb continued AI chip orders.

For Q2 2026, TSMC has guided revenue of US$39 billion to US$40.2 billion, equating to roughly NT$1.236 trillion to NT$1.274 trillion at recent FX rates. At the midpoint, May and June revenues are expected to challenge historical monthly highs.

The 2nm node is on track to be a higher-margin contributor than prior leading-edge nodes, according to commentary at TSMC's recent Technical Symposium. N2 introduces nanosheet GAA transistors, which require denser ALD, selective etch, and metal fill modules than FinFET predecessors.

Sony Kumamoto Image Sensor MOU

Alongside the revenue release, TSMC and Sony Semiconductor Solutions signed a memorandum of understanding on May 8 to establish a joint venture in Kumamoto, Japan, for next-generation image sensor chip development. The Japanese government will provide Sony with subsidies of up to ¥60 billion (approximately NT$12 billion) to support the construction of an image sensor factory in Kumamoto Prefecture.

TSMC's existing Kumamoto plant runs 22/28nm and 12/16nm process technologies. A second plant is targeted for mass production in 2027 and will advance to the 6nm node. The new MOU contemplates not only consumer-electronics image sensors but also Physical AI applications spanning automotive perception and humanoid robotics — categories that demand back-illuminated stacked CMOS sensors with multiple bonded wafers.

Q2 Guidance and Full-Year Outlook

The cumulative four-month run rate of NT$1,544.83 billion already exceeds the full-year revenue of many of TSMC's competitors. If May and June track guidance, first-half 2026 revenue will be well past the NT$2.4 trillion mark.

TSMC's earlier January 2026 guidance pegged full-year revenue growth at "close to 30%" — the four-month tally is currently running ahead of that pace. Management has emphasized that capital expenditure will scale with demand, signaling continued tool orders into 2027.

What This Means for Plasma Processing and Thin Film Deposition

TSMC's monthly revenue cadence is the cleanest leading indicator for the wafer fab equipment supply chain, and the April print confirms two things: orders are not slowing, and the spend is concentrated at advanced nodes where deposition and etch intensity is highest. With capex tracking toward US$56 billion, the dollars flowing into 2nm and N3-family capacity translate directly into tool orders for plasma etch chambers, ALD reactors, PECVD systems, and PVD/sputtering platforms.

For thin film deposition, the 2nm nanosheet GAA architecture is the most ALD-intensive node TSMC has ever ramped. Each nanosheet stack requires conformal silicon and silicon-germanium epitaxy, multiple high-k metal gate ALD steps, and selective deposition for inner-spacer formation. ASM International, Applied Materials' Trillium, Tokyo Electron's Episode 2 QMR, and Lam Research's ALTUS Halo are among the platforms positioned to capture this incremental ALD demand. CVD and PECVD volumes also scale, since dielectric capping and low-k integration remain fab workhorses.

Plasma processing equipment benefits in parallel. Atomic-layer etch and selective plasma etch are required to release nanosheet channels and pattern back-side power delivery. Cryogenic plasma etch for high-aspect-ratio features — the kind Tokyo Electron has been demonstrating with HF chemistry — gains a clearer demand pull as TSMC's 2nm wafer starts ramp. The Sony image sensor JV adds back-illuminated sensor stacking volume, which feeds DRIE silicon etch and bonded-wafer thinning lines.

The equipment supply chain — plasma sources, RF generators, electrostatic chucks, sputtering targets, vacuum pumps, mass flow controllers, and process monitoring optics — sees a multiplier effect. MKS Instruments' Q1 plasma/vacuum/power revenue of US$1.08 billion and Onto Innovation's Q1 metrology revenue of US$292 million both align with the same TSMC-driven demand pulse. Yttrium oxide chamber coatings, fluorine-based gas chemistries, and specialty quartz ware will see tighter supply as 2nm tool installs accelerate. For NineScrolls customers building plasma processing and thin film deposition systems, TSMC's continued double-digit growth confirms that the order book runway extends through 2027 — and that the bottleneck has shifted from chip demand to equipment delivery and field service capacity.