[TSMC’s financial report faces high threshold. Only exceeding expectations may be difficult to quell the sell-off in the global AI sector] October 15th: When the strong performance of global chip manufacturers fails to boost artificial intelligence (AI) transactions, TSMC’s financial report to be announced on Thursday will face a very high threshold if it wants to impress investors. Affected by concerns about interest rate hikes, AI infrastructure financing, and the sustainability of the chip boom cycle, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index has fallen for six consecutive trading days, and its market value has evaporated by more than US$1.5 trillion. TSMC has previously reported a 51% increase in quarterly revenue. However, the solid results recently announced by Samsung Electronics and ASML have failed to alleviate the market's anxiety about chip stocks. "The bar to impress investors is very high," said Kevin Net, portfolio manager at Financiere de L Echiquier. "To promote a positive reaction in the stock price, it is not enough to simply exceed expectations." He hopes to see TSMC maintain higher profit margins and capital expenditures, while releasing a signal that demand for AI and high-performance computing power remains strong.