Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday posted its lowest monthly revenue in six months at NT$36.85 billion (US$1.2 billion) for last month, reflecting the chipmaker’s forecast of higher-than-normal supply chain inventory levels this quarter.
Last month, TSMC saw its revenue drop 4.1 percent from a -record-high of NT$38.43 billion in October.
On Wednesday, rival United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) reported its revenue dropped 2.43 percent month-on-month, to NT$10.44 billion last month.
During the first 11 months of this year, TSMC has accumulated NT$384.67 billion in revenue, up 45.6 percent from NT$264.19 billion a year ago. That puts the chipmaker well on track to hit its goal of growing 40 percent in revenue this year, a goal set by company chairman and chief executive Morris Chang (張忠謀).
Supply chain inventory is expected to rise above seasonal levels this quarter, after approaching seasonal levels in the third quarter, Chang told investors on Oct. 28.
This year will be the “year of surges” for the semiconductor industry and for his company as well, Chang told his firm’s equipment suppliers last week.
TSMC was unable to meet strong customer demand this year even though it has doubled its workforce and boosted spending on increasing capacity, he said.
To safeguard its leading position in technology and capacity, TSMC is scouting for land to build more plants, including its “Fab 16” plant planned for 2015, which was shown in the firm’s roadmap released on Dec. 3.
“TSMC has inquired more than once about leasing land to expand its plants,” Central Taiwan Science Park (中部科學園區) director-general Yang Wen-ke (楊文科) said.
TSMC spokesperson Elizabeth Sun (孫又文) said the company has not decided on the site for Fab 16 yet.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last