TAIPEI -- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has returned to growth after three straight quarters of year-on-year declines in net profit, a sign that the global tech industry is rebounding, helped by the generative AI boom.

The world's largest contract chipmaker said Thursday that its net profit for January to March came in at 225.49 billion New Taiwan dollars ($6.9 billion), up 8.9% from NT$206.99 billion from a year ago. Gross margin for the quarter was 53.1%, slightly higher than last quarter's 53%.