TSMC Sales Surge by 39% as AI Spending Boom Persists

TSMC and AI Growth - TSMC's overall revenue grew 40% in the first half of the year, driven by AI [2] - AI is currently about low teens percentage of TSMC's revenue and is expected to exceed 20% in the next two years [5] - Strong demand remains for AI chips, suggesting potential upward revisions to numbers [5][6] Smartphone Market and TSMC's Revenue - The smartphone ramp-up in the second half, particularly in the third quarter (3Q), is crucial for TSMC's revenue, as it's the holiday quarter preparation period [3] - There's a lack of growth in sectors outside of AI, such as autos or smartphones [3] - Potential pull-forward of smartphone ramp-up in the first half due to tariff situations [4] NVIDIA and AI Chip Demand - NVIDIA's performance, including crossing the $4 trillion mark, has implications for TSMC due to the strong link between the companies and AI chip demand [4] - The shift for SC Fab is moving towards what NVIDIA is selling, specifically AI chips [5] - TSMC has guided for 25% growth for the full year, but with 40% growth in the first half, a second-half deceleration is implied, which could impact NVIDIA [6] AI Talent War and Implications - There's a talent war in the AI industry, with significant pay packages being handed out [9] - Approximately 100 to 200 researchers are driving the innovation in large language models [10] - Open AI faces the risk of slowing down product launches due to the loss of key researchers [10] Grok and Voice AI in Tesla - X (formerly Twitter) unveiled Grok, with plans to integrate the chatbot into Teslas [7] - There's a potential use case for voice AI in Tesla cars, but concerns remain about the large language model's tendency to hallucinate [8] - The safety of using a chatbot in a car is questioned, with voice assistance being a more viable option [9]