TAIPEI, Taiwan: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) pledged another US$100 billion investment in its Arizona operations on July 16 after reporting record quarterly profit and raising its spending outlook, underscoring its confidence in sustained demand for artificial intelligence chips.

The world's largest contract chipmaker, a key supplier to Nvidia and Apple, said the latest investment would add to the $165 billion it has already committed to building chip manufacturing facilities in Arizona. The move also marks a win for U.S. President Donald Trump, who has pushed to expand semiconductor production in the United States.

TSMC also raised its capital spending forecast for this year by up to 14 percent. "Our customers, and customers, who are mainly the cloud service providers, continue to provide us with their very strong signal and positive outlook," Chief Executive C.C. Wei told an earnings conference.

"Thus, our conviction in the multi-year AI megatrend remains very high."

The upbeat outlook came after TSMC posted a 77 percent jump in second-quarter profit to a record T$706.6 billion ($22 billion), beating analysts' forecast of T$632.6 billion and marking its ninth consecutive quarter of double-digit percentage profit growth.

The company now expects 2026 capital expenditure of $60 billion to $64 billion, compared with previous guidance of $52 billion to $56 billion at the upper end. It also said spending over the next three years would be "even more significantly higher" than during the previous three years.

Wei said the additional investment would likely include four more facilities in Arizona, including advanced packaging plants, bringing the total to eight already built or planned. He said the timeline would depend on the "market situation."

"We believe this investment will help further to foster the development of the U.S. semiconductor ecosystem, strengthen the supply chain, and support an increasing number of high-tech, high-paying jobs in the United States," Wei said.

Separately, the U.S. Commerce Department said the investment "highlights the Trump Administration's commitment to strengthening domestic manufacturing and U.S. technological leadership through strategic partnerships and investment."

Nick Marro, principal economist for Asia and lead for global trade at the Economist Intelligence Unit, said the investment would help reinforce the reciprocal trade agreement signed by the United States and Taiwan earlier this year, under which U.S. tariffs were reduced, and Taiwan agreed to increase investment.

TSMC also raised its full-year 2026 revenue forecast in U.S. dollar terms to slightly more than 40 percent growth, up from its previous forecast of more than 30 percent. For the current quarter, it expects revenue of $44.6 billion to $45.8 billion, compared with $33.1 billion a year earlier.

Wei said customers remained "very aggressive" in their AI demand forecasts but stressed that TSMC conducts its own analysis before expanding capacity. "I believe they try their best to tell me the truth," he said.

The company also said growing demand for agentic AI, advanced manufacturing technologies and chip packaging continued to support long-term growth.