Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. recorded its strongest monthly sales growth in months during January, indicating continued robust global investment in artificial intelligence despite ongoing concerns about a potential industry bubble.

US-listed shares of TSMC gained 2.95% in premarket trading.

The primary chip supplier for Nvidia announced a 37% increase in January revenue, reaching NT$401.3 billion ($12.7 billion). This growth exceeded the 30% revenue expansion TSMC anticipates for the entire year. However, the year-over-year comparison might have been influenced by the timing of the Lunar New Year holidays, which occurred in January during 2025.

TSMC, which also manufactures chips for Apple, has emerged as one of the major winners from the wave of artificial intelligence-related investments, thanks to its crucial role in producing sophisticated AI accelerators.

Strong demand for data center chips is particularly driving TSMC's plans to allocate up to $56 billion for capital expenditures this year, representing a 25% increase from 2025. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang recently described this massive investment cycle as a "once-in-a-generation infrastructure buildout."

Nevertheless, the enormous spending by major technology firms such as Amazon and Meta Platforms is creating investor anxiety about whether artificial intelligence will ultimately deliver returns to its biggest backers. The cyclical nature of many data center agreements is also causing concern among those who have experienced previous technology boom-and-bust cycles.