Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM)) had a Monday worth talking about. The chipmaker's Japan and U.S. operations are suddenly printing money, and the company is doubling down on its global expansion to feed the insatiable appetite for AI chips.

Let's start in Japan. Taiwan Semiconductor's subsidiary there, Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Inc. (JASM), just posted its first quarterly profit since it started cranking out chips at the end of 2024. The Kumamoto venture earned 951 million New Taiwan dollars in the January-to-March quarter, according to the Taipei Times. That's a sharp turnaround from a loss of 1.39 billion New Taiwan dollars in the prior quarter and a loss of 3.25 billion a year earlier. Analysts say the secret sauce was simply running the factory harder — utilization rates at the first Kumamoto fab improved, and that made all the difference. That fab churns out automotive and industrial chips using older but still vital technologies like 12-nanometer, 16-nanometer, 22-nanometer, and 28-nanometer processes. And Taiwan Semiconductor isn't stopping there: it's building a second fab in Kumamoto, and it recently upgraded those plans from 6-nanometer to advanced 3-nanometer production, responding to the global AI boom.

Across the Pacific, the Arizona story is even more dramatic. Taiwan Semiconductor Arizona Corp. reported first-quarter profit of 18.81 billion New Taiwan dollars, up from 11.37 billion in the previous quarter and a paltry 496 million a year earlier. That's a 38-fold increase year-over-year. Analysts credit AI demand from major U.S. customers for the surge. The first Arizona fab started mass production in late 2024 using 4-nanometer technology, and the second fab is expected to begin commercial 3-nanometer production next year.

At the company's annual technology symposium, Deputy Co-Chief Operating Officer Kevin Zhang painted a big-picture view: AI could help push global semiconductor revenue to $1.5 trillion by 2030, after surpassing $1 trillion this year. He said AI and high-performance computing could account for about 55% of semiconductor revenue by 2030, overtaking smartphones as the industry's main growth engine. That's a massive shift.

To support that demand, Vice President B.Z. Tien said Taiwan Semiconductor is ramping 2-nanometer production across five factories in Hsinchu and Kaohsiung. Meanwhile, the company is expanding its Chip-on-Wafer-on-Substrate (CoWoS) advanced packaging capacity at a 90% compound annual growth rate through next year. Vice President Lipen Yuan added that CoWoS yields have improved to 98%, and the company is developing larger packaging technologies capable of supporting up to 64 high-bandwidth memory chips for future AI systems. That's the kind of infrastructure that makes AI dreams possible.

So what's next for investors? The next big catalyst is the July 16, 2026 earnings report. Analysts expect earnings of $3.66 per share, up from $2.47 a year ago, on revenue of $39.76 billion, compared with $30.07 billion in the prior-year period. The stock trades at 34.7 times earnings — a premium, but one that reflects its dominant position. Wall Street maintains a consensus Buy rating with an average price target of $420. Recent analyst moves include Barclays raising its target to $470 on April 22, DA Davidson holding at $450 on April 17, and Needham bumping its target to $480 on April 16.

As for the stock itself, Taiwan Semiconductor shares were up 0.81% at $407.62 in premarket trading Monday, approaching its 52-week high of $421.97. The global chipmaking giant is firing on all cylinders, and the market is taking notice.