Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s top chipmaker on a contract basis, yesterday posted 1.3 percent lower sales for last month, representing a second straight monthly decline from an 11-month high in July.
Last month’s sales saw a 3 percent drop to NT$28.94 billion (US$898 million), the company statement said.
In the third quarter, TSMC accumulated NT$89.94 billion in revenues, approaching the high end of the company’s forecast ranging from NT$88 billion to NT$90 billion.
That represented about 21.2 percent growth from NT$74.21 billion in the second quarter, on faster-than-expected recovery in end demand for computers, handsets and consumer electronics.
The results, however, were slightly lower than the NT$92.5 billion projected by Citigroup Inc analyst Andrew Lu (陸行之) and the NT$90.44 billion projected by HSBC Securities semiconductor analyst Steven Pelayo.
Lu expected TSMC to earn NT$28.79 billion in the quarter ending Sept. 30, up 21 percent from the NT$24.4 billion earned in the second quarter.
He also said that TSMC may forecast revenues may be flattish, or decline by 5 percent quarter-on-quarter in the fourth quarter during an upcoming investor conference scheduled for Oct 29.
A Citigroup report released earlier this week said profit margin may weaken to between 33 percent and 35 percent in the final quarter because of lower factory utilization.
Shares of TSMC inched up 0.33 percent to NT$61.1 yesterday versus the benchmark TAIEX’s 0.91 percent gain.
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