Taiwan Semiconductor Manufac-turing Co (TSMC, 台積電) said yesterday that first-quarter earnings nearly doubled due to recovering demand.
The growth would carry into the current quarter fueled by strong demand for wireless communications and consumer-electronic gadgets such as mobile phones and game consoles, according to the Hsinchu-based firm, the world's top made-to-order chipmaker
"We are seeing that growth for the second quarter will be respectable from almost all applications, except computers, compared to the first quarter," chief executive officer Rick Tsai (蔡力行) told investors.
Net income rocketed 94 percent to NT$32.61 billion (US$1.01 billion) in the first three months of this year, compared to NT$16.82 billion a year ago, according to a company statement. Earnings per share jumped to NT$1.32 from NT$0.68.
Revenues grew at a faster pace than the firm's estimate to NT$77.29 billion in the three months ending last month from NT$55.65 billion a year earlier, as a result of stronger-than-expected demand for computers, the company said.
Despite weak demand for chips used in PCs, TSMC would still have its non-consolidated revenues expand to between NT$79 billion and NT$81 billion in the second quarter, chief financial officer Lora Ho (何麗梅) said.
Gross margin and operating margins would also improve up to 50 percent and 42 percent, respectively, Ho said.
"TSMC performed well in the first quarter. Earnings exceeded my expectations and fell in the high end of the market's forecast," said Rick Hsu (徐稦成), a senior analyst with Nomura Securities Co Ltd in Taipei.
But, Hsu said the chipmaker's forecast of a 5 percent quarterly increase in revenues for the current quarter fell short of his expectations. Hsu said he had anticipated better growth ranging between 5 percent and 10 percent.
Looking ahead, Tsai said demand for the second half would also be solid.
"We have difficulty meeting our customers' demands," Tsai said, adding that the company planed to outsource more production to Powerchip Semiconductor Corp (力晶半導體) and Vanguard International Semiconductor Co (世界先進), as well as purchase equipment to catch up rising demand.
TSMC's progress in developing next-generation technologies were the focus of attention at yesterday's investors' conference in Taipei.
Chen said TSMC had taken the lead in the last technology race in 90-nanometer processing technology by nabbing about 70 percent market share in that area in the first quarter.
Tsai said TSMC has 24 customers for chips made on the latest 65-nanometer processing technology and would start commercial production in the second half of the year.
"We are happy about our progress," Tsai said.
TSMC expects about 55 percent of its revenues to come from chips made on advanced technologies by the end of this year, up from 49 percent now.
Smaller rival United Microelectronics Corp (UMC.
About half of its revenues would come from advanced technologies by year end, UMC said.
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