Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday surged to their highest in more than nine months after the company raised its earnings guidance for the current quarter on Wednesday evening.
TSMC shares gained 2.03 percent to close at NT$151 in Taipei trading, the highest since April 28 last year, with 61.71 million shares changing hands.
The Hsinchu-based chipmaker raised its sales guidance for this quarter to a range between NT$201 billion (US$5.99 billion) and NT$203 billion from a previous estimate of between NT$198 billion and NT$201 billion, according to a company filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
The company, which supplies chips for Apple Inc’s iPhones, attributed the more favorable outlook to a weaker New Taiwan dollar against the greenback.
The local currency is trading at an average of NT$33.18 versus the US dollar, down from last month’s forecast of NT$32.5, TSMC said.
Foreign exchange gains are expected to offset the damage of the magnitude 6.4 earthquake that struck southern Taiwan on Feb. 6 and disrupted production capacity, the company said.
However, TSMC trimmed guidance for its gross margin for this quarter to between 44 percent and 46 percent, down from a previous estimate of between 47 percent and 49 percent, because of the earthquake, the filing said.
The operating margin would drop to between 33.5 percent and 35.5 percent from a range of 36.5 percent to 38.5 percent after factoring in insurance payments, the filing said.
TSMC produces 12-inch and 8-inch wafers in its facilities in the Southern Taiwan Science Park that were affected by the quake, the company said, adding that a batch of wafers on the assembly line sustained heavy damage.
Due to the earthquake, wafer shipments from its Tainan-based Gigafab facilities — with capacities ranging between 80,000 wafers and 100,000 wafers per month — that were scheduled to be delivered this quarter are to be delayed until next quarter.
About 100,000 12-inch wafers are to be delayed by between 10 days and 50 days, while shipments of about 20,000 8-inch wafers are to be delayed by five days to 20 days, the company said.
It said both facilities would take longer than expected to fully restore production capacity.
The earthquake did not have any adverse impact on TSMC’s wafer plants located in Hsinchu and Taichung, it said.
Yesterday’s surge reflected expectations that the chipmaker is to win a large amount of, if not all, orders for the A10 processor production for Apple’s next-generation iPhones, market analysts said.
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