Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which supplies microprocessors for Apple Inc’s iPhone 6S series, yesterday posted the strongest monthly revenue in nine months after iPhone 6S phones hit stores around the world in late September.
Revenue surged 26.7 percent to NT$81.74 billion (US$2.49 billion) last month, compared with NT$64.51 billion in September, according to a company statement.
Last month’s figure was the second highest in the chipmaker’s history after its revenue hit a record high in January.
Photo: Hung You-fang, Taipei Times
TSMC expects revenue this quarter to drop moderately by between 4 percent and 5.42 percent sequentially to a range between NT$201 billion and NT$204 billion, as customers continue to digest excess inventory.
In the first 10 months, revenue grew 16.2 percent to NT$721.72 billion, from NT$621.02 billion in the same period last year, TSMC said.
This year as a whole, TSMC sees revenue climbing 10 percent from last year, bucking the world semiconductor industry’s predicted zero percentage growth, TSMC chairman Morris Chang (張忠謀) said on Saturday last week.
TSMC made NT$762.81 billion last year.
Net profit is also set to expand at a 10 percent rate year-on-year, Chang said.
The firm’s board of directors yesterday approved capital expenditure of NT$125.36 billion for capacity expansion of advanced technology for packaging and assembly, construction of fabrication facilities and the transition of facility systems, the chipmaker said in a separate statement.
The budget also includes money for research and development and sustaining capital expenditure in the first quarter next year, the statement said.
Total capital expenditures this year is to be US$8 billion, down from a previous estimate of up to US$11 billion, given softer demand.
Local rival United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) posted 15.63 percent sequential growth in revenue last moth at NT$12.06 billion, up from NT$10.43 billion.
On an annual basis, revenue shrank 10.65 percent from NT$13.5 billion.
In the first 10 months, UMC’s revenue increased 5.82 percent to NT$123.04 billion from NT$116.27 billion in the same period last year.
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