Bank of America will$Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM.US)$Bank of America has raised the revenue forecast and target price of this semiconductor giant, citing Apple's ambitions in artificial intelligence and the positive impact of Computex on the entire semiconductor industry.

Bank of America analyst Brad Lin said that Apple and Computex should boost demand for semiconductors and help drive the trend of running artificial intelligence on devices. Lin said that Taiwan Semiconductor is the main beneficiary and promoter of artificial intelligence prosperity.

Lin said that Apple, Taiwan Semiconductor's largest customer (25% of revenue), should boost chip demand by making changes to system-level chips (SoC) to better protect privacy. Lin said other measures, such as introducing private cloud computing, may also help drive demand for the 3nm node in the first half of the year, despite it being the "off-season".

Lin said: "We believe that as Apple expands its artificial intelligence services, the potential for semiconductor demand to rise may be even greater."

Lin also pointed out that under Nvidia's "strong support", the prospects for advanced wafer and CoWoS (Chip-on-Wafer-on-Substrate) packaging in 2025 are strong, which is also a good sign for Taiwan Semiconductor.

It is understood that Nvidia CEO Huang Renxun said at Computex 2024 that Taiwan Semiconductor's wafer and service prices are too low, and that "Taiwan Semiconductor's contribution to the world and the technology industry is not fully reflected in its financial performance."

Lin said: "Huang Renxun has acknowledged their support for the potential increase in Taiwan Semiconductor's average selling price and prioritizes supply." "Given intensifying competition and overlapping demand for leading nodes and CoWoS, Nvidia's peers are likely to be forced to follow suit to ensure supply. We now expect that the average selling price of 3nm and 5nm chips will increase by 1-3% annually in 2025/26 (previously 1-2%)."

Edited by Jeffrey