TSMC expected to report sixth straight quarter of record profit thanks to AI boom

Adds details from stock market, paragraphs 5-6; ASML earnings call, paragraph 12

TAIPEI, Oct 15 (Reuters) - TSMC, the world's largest manufacturer of advanced AI chips, will likely report a sixth consecutive quarter of record earnings on Thursday, driven by booming infrastructure spending in the tech sector.

Analysts say demand for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co's (TSMC) 2330.TW AI chipmaking capacity, as well as its advanced chip packaging technology, CoWoS, remains strong.

That has catapulted Asia's most valuable company, a key supplier to Nvidia NVDA.O and Apple AAPL.O, to new heights. Its market capitalisation is almost double that of South Korean rival Samsung Electronics 005930.KS at around $2 trillion.

On its Thursday earnings call, TSMC is expected to report a 65% surge in third-quarter net profit to T$746.3 billion ($23.4 billion), according to an LSEG SmartEstimate compiled from 16 analysts. SmartEstimates place greater weight on forecasts from analysts who are more consistently accurate.

The call at which it will provide fourth-quarter and updated full-year guidance is scheduled for 0600 GMT. It will be closely watched by investors due to worries about more interest rate hikes from the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday pummelling shares of AI stocks that are sensitive to higher borrowing costs.

TSMC's Taipei-listed shares were down 2% on Thursday morning, with the benchmark index .TWII off around 3%.

Any result above T$706.56 billion would mark TSMC's highest-ever quarterly net income, as well as its 11th consecutive quarter of profit growth.

Last week, it reported a 50% year-on-year rise in third-quarter revenue, beating market forecasts and hitting a new record.

TSMC is investing $265 billion to build chip factories in the US state of Arizona, including an additional $100 billion that was unveiled in July.

In September, Reuters reported that TSMC was evaluating a potential investment in Texas. Tesla CEO Elon Musk also said last week that his companies would build and operate the Terafab AI chip complex, with TSMC potentially subleasing a part of it.

On its July earnings call, the company raised its capex forecast for this year to between $60 billion and $64 billion from a previous prediction at the high end of $52 billion to $56 billion.

ASML ASML.AS, the world's largest maker of tools used to make AI chips and advanced semiconductors, said on Wednesday customers were already looking to place orders for 2029 and 2030, easing concerns that the AI investment boom was losing momentum.

TSMC's Taipei-listed shares have gained 57% so far this year, in line with a 62% rise for the broader Taiwanese market .TWII.

(Reporting by Wen-Yee Lee and Ben Blanchard; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus)

((ben.blanchard@thomsonreuters.com;))