TSMC’s big overseas chip bet is starting to look a lot less risky.
According to reports from Taiwan, TSMC’s Fab 21 in Arizona posted a massive profit jump in the first quarter of this year. The US-based fab reportedly made NT$18.8 billion, around US$595 million, in Q1 alone. For context, that is already higher than the NT$16.14 billion, around US$510 million, it made across the whole of 2025.
That is a pretty wild turnaround when you compare it to the same period last year. In Q1 2025, Fab 21’s profit was only NT$496 million, roughly US$15.6 million. So yes, this is not just “slightly better performance”. This is the Arizona project moving from early ramp-up mode into something that actually looks financially serious.
For Malaysian and SEA tech fans, this matters because TSMC is not some background industry name. If you use a gaming phone, a console, a GPU, a laptop, or even follow AI hardware news, TSMC is probably somewhere in that supply chain. Apple, AMD, NVIDIA, Qualcomm, and plenty of other major chip players depend heavily on TSMC’s manufacturing. When TSMC capacity improves outside Taiwan, it can affect everything from supply stability to how fast new chips reach global markets.
No, this does not mean your next gaming phone will suddenly become cheap overnight. Don’t expect Shopee prices to magically drop by RM500 just because one fab is doing well. But stronger production outside Taiwan could help reduce some long-term supply pressure, especially as AI chips keep eating up advanced manufacturing capacity like nobody’s business.
TSMC’s Japan venture is also showing better signs. JASM, the company’s joint venture fab in Kumamoto, has reportedly posted its first profit: NT$951 million, or around US$30 million. That is much smaller than the Arizona figure, but the direction is important. In Q1 2025, JASM was still in the red with a loss of NT$3.25 billion, around US$103 million.
TSMC owns 77% of JASM, while Sony, Denso, and Toyota are minority shareholders. That mix says a lot about why Japan wants this project to work. It is not just about smartphone chips; it also ties into cameras, automotive tech, sensors, and industrial electronics. For SEA, where Japanese cars, cameras, and electronics still have huge presence, a healthier Japan chip ecosystem is not irrelevant at all.
The expansion story is not stopping either. Both Fab 21 in Arizona and Fab 23 in Kumamoto are being expanded, with both expected to begin operations sometime in 2027. The Arizona site is also set to receive additional expansion work this year, though there is no known production start date yet for those extra additions.
The bigger picture is simple: TSMC’s overseas fabs are beginning to prove they can be more than political insurance policies. For years, the concern was whether building outside Taiwan would be too expensive, too slow, or too hard to scale. These numbers suggest the early pain may be paying off.
For gamers and tech buyers in Malaysia, this is the kind of semiconductor news worth watching quietly. The chips inside future GPUs, handhelds, phones, AI laptops, and consoles depend on capacity decisions being made years earlier. If TSMC can get Arizona and Kumamoto running smoothly, the next wave of hardware may have a stronger global supply base behind it.
Source: TechPowerUp