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TSMC smartphone revenue doubles despite declining global unit shipments
Sunday, January 18, 2026 at 03:49 PM
Analysis of TSMC financial performance indicates its smartphone-related revenue has more than doubled between 2018 and 2025, despite a 17% decline in total smartphone unit shipments during the same period.
Context
TSMC’s smartphone revenue more than doubled between 2018 and 2025, despite a 17% contraction in global unit shipments over the same period. This performance is driven by a 2.6x increase in silicon content per device as manufacturers pivot toward premium, AI-capable hardware. By the end of 2025, the smartphone segment remained a massive revenue pillar, contributing 32% of quarterly sales as consumers increasingly demand the advanced processing power required for on-device generative AI features.
The surge in revenue is largely attributed to the rapid adoption of leading-edge nodes, with 3nm and 5nm technologies now generating over 60% of total wafer revenue. These advanced nodes command significantly higher average selling prices, allowing TSMC to capture substantially more value from each handset even as total unit volumes plateau. With record full-year 2025 revenue reaching $122.42 billion, the company has successfully leveraged increased chip complexity and node migration to sustain high-margin growth through the current mobile upgrade cycle.
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