The Semiconductor Boom is Real and Prolonged
The Taiwan Big Six AI Server firms are becoming a force of nature. Taiwan's Semi supremacy, unveiled. TSMC is now eying up to 12 fabs for Arizona with an accelerated timetable. Unbelievable!
Good Morning,
So Earnings have started and the semiconductor boom seems to have accelerated further on the public markets. This prolonged Semiconductor surge is indicative of demand that might transition us into a Machine Economy. This is the hardware and these are global supply-chains that make it all happen.
Major winners so far this year include: SNDK 0.00%↑, WDC 0.00%↑, STX 0.00%↑, INTC 0.00%↑, MU 0.00%↑ - honestly the way HBM chip have sured in revenue from SK Hynix to Micro to Samsung is just incredible.
New AI Winners are essentially Semiconductor Names
TSMC and ASML Earnings
TSMC posted a 58% profit jump, driven by strong AI chip demand.
TSMC said advanced chips accounted for about 75% of total wafer revenue in the quarter.
TSMC’s Net Margins seem to be increasing:
TSMC: Revenue: 1.134 trillion new Taiwan dollars ($35 billion), vs. NT$1.127 trillion expected.
TSMC posts 35% jump in revenue to new record high
TSMC forecast full-year 2026 revenue growth of more than 30% year over year in U.S. dollar terms.
The Rise of “Mini-Hsinchu” is Significant now in Arizona
I don’t have to tell you that for a huge company that size, 30% is a lot and almost unheard of pre AI boom. Kind of hard to fully appreciate, also how much they are extending their Fabs in Arizona. As of April 2026, TSMC’s expansion in Arizona has grown far beyond its original 2020 scope, evolving into a massive manufacturing hub often referred to as a "Mini-Hsinchu" (named after their primary science park in Taiwan).
The Trump Administration have made a lot of questionable decisions but brining TSMC over so aggressively is one of the big untold stories in Tech. Currently estimated at US$165 billion, a massive jump from the initial $12 billion announced years ago. The Silicon Shield has been nearly entirely stripped from Taiwan by the Americans.
TSMC projected second-quarter (2Q) revenue of $39 billion to $40.2 billion, representing a 10% sequential increase.
ASML Earnings - Sales to China in Decline
ASML increased positive guidance where ASML said it now sees 2026 net sales to be between 36 billion euros and 40 billion euros, compared to a previous forecast of 34 billion euros to 39 billion euros.
While ASML has never been allowed to sell EUV machines to China, it has long sold its lower-end deep ultraviolet, or DUV, chipmaking machines there.
Last week, a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers proposed a bill that would cut off ASML’s sale of DUV machines to Chinese chip companies and impact its already shrinking sales there. That law still needs to work its way through the U.S. legislative process. System sales to China fell to 19% of overall sales in the first quarter, compared to 36% in the December quarter.
Net sales: 8.8 billion euros ($10.4 billion) versus 8.5 billion euros expected
Net profit: 2.8 billion euros versus 2.5 billion euros expected
Revenue growth at ASML has been inconsistent reflecting geopolitics and some turbulence but still strong since 2020:
We as usual, have a lot to catch up on. I’m going to focus more on bullets from Semi Twitter than external links and reads today. Who are Taiwan’s Big 6 AI server firms you may ask? You’ve heard of Foxconn perhaps but the others?
The “Taiwan Big6”
Taiwan’s Big 6 Revenue in March, 2026:
Foxconn NT$803.7 billion, up 45.6% year-on-year
Quanta NT$362.8 billion, +88.4%
Wistron NT$333.0 billion +117.7%
Wiwynn NT$98.6 billion, +13.9%
Inventec NT$87.6 billion, +47.1%
Gigabyte NT$39.0 billion, +74.8%
This surge is driven by massive infrastructure spending from "Big Tech" hyperscalers (Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, and Google) and the rollout of next-generation rack systems like Nvidia’s GB300.
In the first quarter of 2026, the leading manufacturers generated combined revenues exceeding NT$2 trillion (~$63 billion USD).
By Size
Foxconn (Hon Hai)
Wistron
Quanta
Wiwynn
Compal
Inventec
It’s not just TSMC and its ecosystem around here, it’s so much more now. Also with Micron building here.
If we exclude Foxconn, you can see the growth of these Taiwanese AI Server firms very clearly since 2022:
Taiwan-6 Revenue Growth Since 2022
I don’t have to tell you that countries most involved in the supply-chain are seeing their stock markets surge like Taiwan, South Korea and even to some extent Japan. I imagine you’ve never heard of some of Taiwan’s top semiconductor firms:
How the Taiwan-6 are going against “seasonal norms” is highly unusual in 2026: The March surge changes the trajectory:
Thank you for sticking around as a paying reader, one of my goals for the second half of 2026 is to up my cadence of issues. My only issue is the Semiconductor industry is a bit more slowly moving in terms of the news-cycle. I also want to focus a bit more on info that is relevant to potential investor audiences.
One last point of news that I found interesting, Cerebras filed for IPO on Friday.
You can also read my note about it here.
This articles basically gives you a sweeping view of the latest Semiconductor news from the point of view of Taiwan and TSMC especially. Congrats to Taiwan for over-taking the stock market size of the U.K.
