HSINCHU, Taiwan — Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company signalled on Sunday that its 2027 capital expenditure will exceed $60bn, its largest ever, as orders for advanced AI accelerators continue to outstrip production capacity.

The guidance follows TSMC's third-quarter results. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs analysts have linked the spending to surging demand for agentic AI systems—which run far longer inference workloads than chatbots—for the company's 3-nanometre and 2-nanometre nodes.

TSMC manufactures the most advanced processors for Nvidia, Apple and AMD, and its spending plans are treated across the industry as a proxy for overall AI hardware demand. Chief executive C.C. Wei previously said capacity for leading-edge nodes remained fully booked through 2026, with customers seeking multi-year supply commitments.

The planned outlay has raised concerns among some investors about concentration risk, given that a single Taiwanese firm underpins the global AI supply chain. It also strengthens the case for TSMC's expansion in Arizona and Japan, projects partly backed by US and Japanese government incentives aimed at diversifying production.

A TSMC spokesperson confirmed that advanced-node demand remained the primary driver of investment plans. The company will finalise formal 2027 capital spending guidance at its January investor conference.