Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said its revenue hit a record high last month amid strong demand, underpinning the company’s target to achieve a record revenue for this quarter.
Revenue on a consolidated basis last month was NT$64.93 billion (US$2.16 billion), up 7.6 percent from June and 24.6 percent higher than a year earlier, TSMC said in a statement.
The revenue increase last month was not unexpected, as the Hsinchu-based chipmaker told an investors’ conference on July 17 that it expected sales and earnings would continue to gain steam in the current quarter despite of signs of inventory adjustments in the supply chain.
At the time, TSMC said that third-quarter revenue could rise by between 12.56 percent and 14.19 percent to between NT$206 billion and NT$209 billion in the current quarter, from last quarter’s NT$183.02 billion. The company also forecast a sequential revenue increase next quarter because of its strength in 28 nanometer and 20 nanometer process technologies.
Cumulative revenue from January through last month totaled NT$396.16 billion, an increase of 16.3 percent compared with the same period of last year, the company said.
Vanguard International Semiconductor Co (世界先進) — of which TSMC is the biggest stakeholder with a 33.3 percent share — said yesterday that its consolidated revenue also hit a record-high level last month.
The supplier of driver ICs used in flat panels said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange that revenue grew 3.8 percent month-on-month and 7.37 percent year-on-year to NT$2.07 billion last month, thanks to strong demand for power management chips used in tablets and the contribution of an eight-inch wafer plant from newly acquired DRAM chipmaker Sumpro Electronics Corp (勝普).
Cumulative revenue in the first seven months of the year amounted to NT$13.399 billion, an increase of 11.01 percent from a year ago, the filing showed.
However, United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the nation’s second-largest contract chipmaker, yesterday posted the lowest revenue in three months last month because of a weakening contribution from its solar business.
The company’s revenue last month fell 7 percent month-on-month and 0.14 percent year-on-year to NT$11.54 billion.
TSMC shares fell 0.82 percent to close at NT$120.5 yesterday, but Vanguard shares rose 0.86 percent to NT$41.0, while those of UMC declined 1.5 percent to NT$13.1, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
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