TSMC sends scouts to check whether America's datacenters can deliver

TSMC is dispatching personnel to check out US datacenter construction and power availability as it plans billions of dollars in additional chipmaking capacity. The Taiwanese chipmaking giant warned of pressure on consumer markets during its third-quarter earnings call, while maintaining that AI demand - at least for now - continues to outstrip supply. "Looking ahead, we continue to observe consumer and price-sensitive end market segments are being challenged due to the impact of rising component prices and macroeconomic uncertainties. As such, we are being prudent in our business planning going into 2027," said chairman and CEO C.C. Wei. Wei said AI demand remained strong, with CPUs for agentic workloads and networking chips adding to the need for silicon. "Therefore, semiconductors will remain essential in the AI mega trend. The value of semiconductors in the global supply chain is set to continue to increase in our view," he stated. TSMC expects capital expenditure of $60 billion to $64 billion this year. …