What's going on?

TSMC reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings on Thursday, and investors might’ve been surprised to see them arrive when the chipmaker said they would�

What does this mean?

Chipmakers would be lucky to get any downtime these days: demand for semiconductors used in everything from smartphones to cars kept soaring last quarter, with some desperate customers resorting to upfront payments to bag their stash. That might be why TSMC earned nearly $7 billion in pre-payments alone last year, helping the company grow its profit by a better-than-expected 16% last quarter � enough to hit a new quarterly record. It reckons it can keep up this relentless work ethic too: TSMC thinks its sales will grow between 15% and 20% a year going forward � as much as doubling its last forecast.

Why should I care?

Zooming in: TSMC�s splashing the cash.
Those results solidify TSMC�s title as the world�s biggest contract chipmaker, but it�s not letting its guard down: the company also announced plans to spend as much as $44 billion in 2022 ��up from last year�s $30 billion, and more than rival Intel�s paltry $28 billion budget. TSMC will use that money to build new plants in places like Japan and the US, in an effort to up production and stay ahead of the competition.

The bigger picture: Carmakers are going it alone.
That extra production should help ease shortages, but not necessarily anytime soon: the wait between ordering chips and delivering them rose 30% last month to 26 weeks ��the longest on record. And carmakers � which lost $200 billion in sales because of the chip shortage last year � are tired of waiting: Tesla and General Motors have already said they�re going to develop their own chips instead, and one research firm reckons half of the world�s ten biggest carmakers will be doing the same by 2025 (tweet this).