TSMC quarterly profit rises 68.7%; advanced nodes make up 79% of wafer revenue

TSMC reported on October 15 that its net income for the third quarter of 2026 rose 68.7% from a year earlier.

These are one company’s consolidated July–September results, not a growth rate for the entire chip market or a measure of future investment returns.

How much, and compared with when?

Quarterly revenue was approximately NT$1.4942 trillion and net income approximately NT$763.1 billion. Revenue rose 50.9% from the same quarter of 2025. Against the immediately preceding quarter, revenue rose 17.6% and net income 8.0%. The 68.7% and 8.0% profit increases therefore answer different questions. Mixing the year-on-year and sequential comparisons would exaggerate or obscure the pace of change.

Does an 8% share mean 8% of chips?

The company says 2-nanometre technology generated 8% of wafer revenue. The shares for 3-, 5- and 7-nanometre technologies were 33%, 28% and 10%. Together, technologies at 7 nanometres and more advanced accounted for 79%. The denominator is wafer revenue, rather than the number of chips produced or world market share. These process labels describe technology generations; their revenue shares do not calculate a performance improvement for individual products.

What did independent reporting add?

Reuters reported that profit exceeded market expectations and described AI processor demand as a backdrop. The reported results do not separately identify every dollar of AI-related revenue. The entire sales increase cannot therefore be assigned mathematically to AI alone. Company profitability and industry-wide demand are related, but remain different indicators.

What needs checking in the next release?

Next-quarter guidance is distinct from the completed third-quarter results. Subsequent process shares and actual quarterly results can show how demand develops. The SEC filing also notes that the third-quarter figures had not yet been approved by the board. Direct access to the official, SEC and Reuters pages was restricted, so their text supplied through the search tool was cross-checked. This report does not predict share prices or exchange rates and does not mix in conversions to another currency.

Primary sources and independent checks

Company release: comparison periods, revenue, profit and wafer shares; direct403, official text via search: TSMC: Third Quarter 2026 release

Filed primary release: tables and board-approval footnote; direct403, text via search: SEC: TSMC 3Q26 filed release

Independent reporting: profit, expectations and AI context; direct403, full supplied search text checked: Reuters: Wen-Yee Lee and Ben Blanchard, 15 October 2026

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