Taiwan’s TSMC posted a 76.4% surge in second quarter profit on Thursday, the biggest jump in earnings in eight quarters that handily beat market estimates, thanks to red-hot demand for its chips amid a two-year long global shortage.

TSMC, the world’s largest contract chip maker and a major Apple supplier, said net profit for April to June rose to a record T$237-billion (US$7.9-billion). That beat an average T$219.13-billion estimate from 19 analysts compiled by Refinitiv.

The strong results underscore demand for Apple’s iPhone 13 that continues to sell well despite record global inflation and worries of a looming recession, as well as solid sales of high-performance computing chips used in 5G networks and artificial intelligence.

Some chip makers, including Micron Technology, have recently said the tight chip market has given way to a glut in a matter of weeks, following two years of huge pandemic-fuelled sales of phones and laptops that caused a crisis. The shortage had also hurt global car makers that were forced to cut production.

TSMC, whose clients also include chip majors such as Qualcomm, said in April that its chip capacity would remain tight this year.

Revenue for the quarter climbed 36.6% to $18.2-billion, higher than its previous estimated range of between $17.6-billion and $18.2-billion.

Shares of TSMC have fallen about 23% so far this year, giving the firm a market value of $408.3-billion. The stock rose 1% on Thursday, compared to a 0.8% gain for the benchmark index. — Yimou Lee and Ben Blanchard, (c) 2022 Reuters