Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) third-quarter sales have come in above its own estimates, which analysts attributed to an increase in orders placed by Apple Inc.
Consolidated sales for the April-to-June quarter rose 17.89 percent from a quarter earlier to NT$252.11 billion (US$8.3 billion), beating the 16 percent sequential increase the company projected in July, the world’s largest contract chipmaker said in a statement yesterday.
The company had expected revenue for the July-to-September period to be between NT$246 billion and NT$249 billion.
TSMC is believed to be supplying the A11 processor for the newest iPhones unveiled last month, and analysts said orders from Apple helped push sales above expectations, in part because of a higher-value product mix.
Apple’s business boosted shipments of TSMC chips — manufactured using its most advanced 10 nanometer process — to 10 percent of sales in the third quarter of the year, up from 1 percent in the second quarter, analysts said.
Last month, TSMC posted NT$88.58 billion in consolidated sales, down 3.6 percent from August, but still the second-highest for any month this year. That brought the company’s cumulative sales in the first nine months to NT$699.88 billion, up 2.1 percent from a year earlier.
Looking ahead, analysts said that in addition to the orders from Apple, Android smartphone vendors are expected to buy more TSMC chips to meet peak season demand, which is expected to propel TSMC’s sales even higher.
TSMC has scheduled an investors’ conference for Oct. 19 to disclose details about its third-quarter results and give sales guidance for the fourth quarter of the year.
The third-quarter sales data were released after the stock market closed on Friday, when TSMC shares ended unchanged at NT$224.50 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
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