By Adam Clark and Angela Palumbo

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing reported a surge in profit for the first quarter of the year and said so far it hasn't suffered any hit from tariffs.

The Taiwanese chip manufacturer, known as TSMC, reported that its first-quarter profit jumped 60% to 361.56 billion New Taiwan dollars ($11.12 billion). That beat analysts' forecasts of NT$351.65 billion, according to the average of a FactSet poll.

TMSC's January-quarter revenue came to NT$839.25 billion, up 42% on the year. In U.S. dollars, revenue came to $25.53 billion, up 35% from the same period a year ago but down 5.1% from the previous quarter.

The company said it expects revenue of between $28.4 billion and $29.2 billion in the second quarter.

"Moving into second quarter 2025, we expect our business to be supported by strong demand for our industry-leading 3nm [nanometer] and 5nm technologies. While we have not seen any changes in our customers' behavior so far, uncertainties and risks from the potential impact from tariff policies exist," said Wendell Huang, TSMC's chief financial officer, in a statement.

TSMC is a crucial player in the artificial-intelligence chip market. It's the main supplier of chips to Nvidia -- the leader of semiconductors used for AI applications. TSMC also makes the core processors inside Apple iPhones, Qualcomm mobile chipsets, and processors made by Advanced Micro Devices.

American depositary receipts of TSMC have dropped 23% this year as chip companies' shares succumbed to tariff turmoil.

President Donald Trump has implemented tariffs on countries across the globe, with the highest levies placed on China. Last week, Trump temporarily exempted tech devices, such as smartphones and semiconductors, from his so-called reciprocal tariffs. Investor relief was short-lived, though, after the U.S. imposed licensing requirements on some AI semiconductor exports to China this week.

Nvidia said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Tuesday night that future sales of its H20 AI accelerators to China would require a license from the U.S. Department of Commerce. Chip stocks fell in response to that news on Wednesday.

Speaking at an event last week, Trump said he told TSMC it could face a tax of up to 100% if it doesn't shift more production to the U.S.

The president has repeatedly suggested he is considering imposing tariffs on chips produced outside the U.S. and it isn't clear if TSMC would receive a waiver on such levies despite pledging a total of $165 billion in U.S. investment.

Wedbush analyst Matt Bryson noted last week that U.S. policy can impact TSMC, which could see "2025 growth slow beyond initial projections."

Bryson continued to rate TSMC as Outperform with a NT$1,300 price target before TSMC's quarterly report. It closed at NT$847 on Thursday.

Write to Adam Clark at adam.clark@barrons.com and Angela Palumbo at angela.palumbo@dowjones.com

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April 17, 2025 03:23 ET (07:23 GMT)

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