The latest financial results and commentary from the world’s biggest third-party chipmaker gave a big boost Thursday to Apple and semiconductor stocks, including artificial intelligence leader Nvidia . Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company , whose customers include the likes of Apple, Nvidia and fellow Club stock Broadcom , said its fourth-quarter revenue from smartphone chips grew a better-than-expected 27% on a quarterly basis. AAPL 1Y mountain Apple 1 year That’s a favorable development for the iPhone maker amid questions about demand for the latest model. While still using Qualcomm ‘s modems, Apple designs its own processors for smartphones and personal computers. TSMC then manufactures them for Apple . Shares of Apple rose more than 3% on Thursday, though Bank of America upgrading the stock to buy, from a hold-equivalent rating, also factored into the gains. Apple’s stock had gotten off to a tough start in 2024, amid a series of analyst downgrades . The stock was still down 2% for 2024 as of Thursday’s close, following its 48% surge last year. TSMC said it expects companywide 2024 revenue to grow in the low-to-mid 20% range, ahead of the 20% growth rate expected by Wall Street analysts. TSMC’s segment that includes AI-focused processors will have the highest growth rate in 2024, management said — an encouraging sign for Club name Nvidia, which dominates the market for chips used to train AI models like the one underpinning ChatGPT. “Let’s not overthink it: Apple and Nvidia are the two that are most obvious” beneficiaries from TSMC’s results, Jim Cramer said Thursday. After last year’s triple, Nvidia shares started 2024 slow but have now gained more than 15% this month, including a nearly 2% gain on Thursday. NVDA 1Y mountain Nvidia 1 year TSMC also sees demand for AI chips increasing over the next couple years, predicting the products will represent a “high teens” percentage of its revenue in 2027, up from about 6% currently. Previously, TSMC had…
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