Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reported sales of NT$30.22 billion (US$934 million) last month, representing a rise of 4.4 percent month-on-month.
On an annual basis, that represented an increase of 2.5 percent, a company statement said.
Last month’s sales came after two straight monthly declines and backed TSMC’s revised outlook.
TSMC’s figures came after local rival United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) said on Monday that its sales leapt 17.58 percent to NT$9.3 billion last month from NT$7.91 billion a year ago. The figure was still a fall of 2.49 percent month-on-month.
Two weeks ago, TSMC chairman Morris Chang (張忠謀) raised his forecast for global semiconductor revenues, predicting annual growth in the mid-single digit range this quarter, up from a low-single digit projection in July. The revision was primarily the result of stronger demand for PCs.
TSMC expected fourth-quarter revenues to reach between NT$90 billion and NT$92 billion from last quarter’s NT$89.94 billion on the back of higher demand for consumer electronics.
In the first 10 months, TSMC generated NT$233.87 billion in sales, down 21.5 percent from NT$298.09 billion for the same period last year as a result of the global economic slump.
The Hsinchu-based company’s board yesterday approved capital appropriations of US$2.24 billion to expand advanced technology capacity at its 12-inch wafer fabs and expand its advanced chip testing and packaging services, TSMC said in a statement.
It also agreed to invest US$2.55 billion in expanding 12-inch wafer fab facilities and approved the appointment of Jack Sun (孫元成) as chief technology officer.
Shares of TSMC rose 0.83 percent to NT$60.5, while UMC stocks lost 0.64 percent to close at NT$15.6 yesterday.
DECOUPLING? In a sign of deeper US-China technology decoupling, Apple has held initial talks about using Baidu’s generative AI technology in its iPhones, the Wall Street Journal said China has introduced guidelines to phase out US microprocessors from Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) from government PCs and servers, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The procurement guidance also seeks to sideline Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system and foreign-made database software in favor of domestic options, the report said. Chinese officials have begun following the guidelines, which were unveiled in December last year, the report said. They order government agencies above the township level to include criteria requiring “safe and reliable” processors and operating systems when making purchases, the newspaper said. The US has been aiming to boost domestic semiconductor
Nvidia Corp earned its US$2.2 trillion market cap by producing artificial intelligence (AI) chips that have become the lifeblood powering the new era of generative AI developers from start-ups to Microsoft Corp, OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet Inc. Almost as important to its hardware is the company’s nearly 20 years’ worth of computer code, which helps make competition with the company nearly impossible. More than 4 million global developers rely on Nvidia’s CUDA software platform to build AI and other apps. Now a coalition of tech companies that includes Qualcomm Inc, Google and Intel Corp plans to loosen Nvidia’s chokehold by going
OPENING ADDRESS: The CEO is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence at the trade show’s opening on June 3, TAITRA said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chairperson and chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) is to deliver the opening keynote speech at Computex Taipei this year, the event’s organizer said in a statement yesterday. Su is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing (HPC) in the artificial intelligence (AI) era to open Computex, one of the world’s largest computer and technology trade events, at 9:30am on June 3, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said. Su is to explore how AMD and the company’s strategic technology partners are pushing the limits of AI and HPC, from data centers to
ENERGY IMPACT: The electricity rate hike is expected to add about NT$4 billion to TSMC’s electricity bill a year and cut its annual earnings per share by about NT$0.154 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has left its long-term gross margin target unchanged despite the government deciding on Friday to raise electricity rates. One of the heaviest power consuming manufacturers in Taiwan, TSMC said it always respects the government’s energy policy and would continue to operate its fabs by making efforts in energy conservation. The chipmaker said it has left a long-term goal of more than 53 percent in gross margin unchanged. The Ministry of Economic Affairs concluded a power rate evaluation meeting on Friday, announcing electricity tariffs would go up by 11 percent on average to about NT$3.4518 per kilowatt-hour (kWh)