The news
On August 11, 2026, the board of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC; TSM) approved about US$29.44 billion in capital appropriations, a fresh round of TSMC capital spending aimed at advanced chips, packaging and new fabs, and a NT$7 per-share quarterly dividend.
According to TSMC's board resolutions, the appropriations (budget authorizations for spending) totaled approximately US$29,442.50 million. The company listed three main purposes: installing and upgrading advanced technology capacity; installing and upgrading advanced packaging, mature and specialty technology capacity; and building fabs and installing fab facility systems.
The board declared a cash dividend of NT$7.0 per share for the second quarter of 2026. The ex-dividend date is December 10, 2026, the record date is December 16, and payment is set for January 7, 2027. Focus Taiwan, the English service of Taiwan's Central News Agency, reported that the payout was unchanged from the first quarter. Starting with this distribution, TSMC said, foreign shareholders may choose to receive cash dividends in U.S. dollars.
The board also approved TSMC's second-quarter financial statements, showing consolidated revenue of NT$1,270.38 billion, net income of NT$706.56 billion and diluted earnings per share of NT$27.25. The same meeting approved a joint venture with Sony Semiconductor Solutions for image sensors, with a TSMC subscription of no more than ¥282 billion.
The approval came three months after a similar one. On May 12, 2026, TSMC's board approved about US$31,284.30 million in capital appropriations and a capital injection of up to US$20 billion into its wholly owned subsidiary TSMC Arizona, according to a TSMC filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The numbers
- Capital appropriations approved August 11, 2026
- About US$29,442.50 million
- Capital appropriations approved May 12, 2026
- About US$31,284.30 million
- Second-quarter 2026 cash dividend
- NT$7.0 per share
- Dividend payment date
- January 7, 2027
- 2026 capex guidance (raised July 16, 2026)
- US$60 billion to US$64 billion
Why CEOs should care
For companies buying AI servers or designing custom chips, this approval is a leading indicator of supply, not relief. Appropriations become tools and cleanrooms over time, and TSMC's advanced capacity was already tight. EE Times reported that in July, when a Deutsche Bank analyst estimated demand for 3-nanometer and finer chips exceeded TSMC's supply by about 50%, Chief Executive C.C. Wei acknowledged, "The gap is very big." Buyers should keep locking in allocation early and ask suppliers which of their products depend on TSMC advanced packaging.
For CFOs and boards at chip-equipment and materials suppliers, two near-$30 billion approvals in three months are a demand signal to track against their own order books. For foreign institutional holders, the new U.S. dollar option may simplify currency handling on TSMC dividends. The unchanged NT$7 payout also shows TSMC holding its dividend steady while it raises spending.
For boards weighing AI projects, the takeaway is timing. TSMC is spending heavily, but the capacity it is funding will arrive in stages. Plans that assume abundant leading-edge chips in the near term should be stress-tested.
The bigger picture
On July 16, 2026, TSMC raised its 2026 capital budget to US$60 billion to US$64 billion from a prior US$52 billion to US$56 billion, according to TrendForce and Focus Taiwan. EE Times reported the company also pledged an additional US$100 billion for U.S. facilities, including up to four fabs for 2-nanometer-and-below chips and advanced packaging, without a timeframe.
The spending follows strong results. TSMC's July 16 earnings release put second-quarter revenue up 36.0% from a year earlier and net income up 77.4%, with 3-nanometer process technology making up 30% of wafer revenue. TrendForce reported that TSMC lifted its full-year 2026 revenue growth outlook to more than 40% in U.S. dollar terms, from about 30%, and that Chief Financial Officer Wendell Huang expected third-quarter gross margin pressure from the steep 2-nanometer ramp and overseas fab costs.
What happened next
On September 10, 2026, TSMC reported record August revenue of about NT$514.81 billion, up 53.3% from a year earlier. On September 24, a TSMC monthly filing with the SEC broke board-approved capital appropriations into US$16,035 million for advanced technology machinery, US$4,791 million for packaging, mature and specialty machinery, and US$8,616 million for real estate and capitalized leased assets, which add up to the August figure by Tech CEO Daily's arithmetic.
What to watch: TSMC's third-quarter earnings conference on October 15, 2026, for any update to the US$60 billion to US$64 billion capex range, and the dividend's December 10 ex-dividend date.
