If you want to know why graphics cards are still so painfully pricey, you might want to take a look at TSMC's record-high profits which are heading for $50 billion this year

The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. logo atop a building at the Hsinchu Science Park in Hsinchu, Taiwan, on Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023. TSMC is scheduled to release earnings results on Oct. 19.

Nick found some pretty nice post-Prime Day prices on GPUs earlier today. But only relatively speaking. You're still looking at over $700 for a '70 Ti-class Nvidia card. Ouch. And one of the reasons why is surely the dominance of TSMC when it comes to manufacturing chips for the likes of Nvidia, AMD and, latterly, Intel. Which is why the company's latest record profits announcement matters.

TSMC has just reported its figures for the second quarter of 2025, and the result is a whopping $13.53 billion in profit. Yes, profit. TSMC's revenues for the period were over $31 billion. Those are some margins.