Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday reported a 3.1 percent sequential decline in sales last month, but the figure was still the third-highest in the company’s history.
TSMC said in a statement that consolidated sales last month slid to NT$98.39 billion (US$3.19 billion), with analysts attributing the decline to the slow season effect.
In the first 11 months of this year, cumulative sales were NT$941.64 billion, up 6.1 percent from a year earlier, TSMC said.
With orders from Apple Inc on the decline, demand for Android-powered smartphones weakening and sales of mining devices used for cryptocurrency transactions falling, TSMC could see its revenue fall about 15 percent sequentially next quarter, analysts projected.
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), a smaller rival of TSMC, reported that consolidated sales last month dropped 8.13 percent sequentially to its lowest this year at NT$11.55 billion.
The fall reflected stagnant global smartphone sales, trade tensions between the US and China, and the depreciation of emerging market currencies, analysts said.
In the first 11 months of this year, UMC’s consolidated sales totaled NT$139.87 billion, edging up 0.9 percent from a year earlier.
Analysts projected that UMC could post more than NT$11 billion in consolidated sales for this month, lifting its full-year sales over last year’s NT$149.28 billion to a new record high.
Meanwhile, handset chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) reported that consolidated sales last month fell 10.4 percent sequentially to a nine-month low of NT$18.67 billion.
The decline reflected the weakness in the smartphone market as well as the negative impact of seasonal factors on power management chips, the Internet of Things applications and TVs, analysts said.
MediaTek’s cumulative sales in the first 11 months of this year dropped 1.32 percent annually to NT$216.67 billion, according to the company’s regulatory filing.
ASE Technology Holding Co (ASE, 日月光投資控股), the world’s biggest chip packager and tester, posted a 3 percent decline in consolidated sales for last month to NT$37.95 billion from NT$39.14 billion in October.
ASE could see sales this quarter increase by 5 percent from last quarter’s NT$107.6 billion, aided by the company’s electronics manufacturing service business, analysts said.
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