Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has delivered a strong signal on AI demand, reporting record October revenue of NT$586.89 billion (about $17.88 billion) and separately approving up to $1 billion in investments across OpenAI and Anthropic. The October figure climbed 59.7% from a year earlier and 14.7% from September, topping the previous monthly high of NT$514.81 billion set in August.
TSMC's US-listed shares traded at $394.19, up 1.43% on November 10, after closing Monday at $388.62, a 3.51% gain. The stock had fallen 10.78% on November 5 during a sharp AI-led selloff, then recovered 6.33% on Friday. In Taiwan, TSMC shares rose more than 4% on Wednesday after the investment announcement.
The board authorized purchases of up to $500 million of Anthropic common shares at the Claude developer's IPO price and up to $500 million of preferred stock in privately held OpenAI. A separate $500 million semiconductor-related investment vehicle was also approved. TSMC also authorized roughly $40.93 billion in capital appropriations for advanced production, packaging and facilities.
October's revenue put the company ahead of the monthly pace implied by its fourth-quarter guidance of $52.3 billion to $54.3 billion. For January through October, revenue reached NT$4.49 trillion, up 43.3% year over year. Third-quarter net profit was NT$763.06 billion, and TSMC expects full-year US dollar revenue growth of about 44%.
Wedbush analyst Matt Bryson said October's increase exceeded normal seasonal patterns, putting TSMC in a strong position to meet or surpass demanding fourth-quarter expectations. Yorkville Ives' Dan Ives argued that Anthropic's IPO would benefit from disciplined pricing amid volatile AI shares.
The results are being closely watched ahead of Nvidia's earnings on November 17. Advanced nodes remain the growth engine: 2-nanometer technology contributed 8% of wafer revenue in the third quarter, while 3-nanometer and 5-nanometer processes added 33% and 28%, respectively. Technologies at 7 nanometers and below represented 79% of wafer revenue.
