Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, is expected to reach a quarterly high in capital expenditure (capex) this quarter as it pushes for high-end technology development, US-based market information advisory firm IC Insights said on Tuesday.
TSMC would boost its fourth-quarter capex by 64 percent to US$5.147 billion from the third quarter’s US$3.148 billion, marking the highest quarterly level in the company’s history, IC Insights said in a report.
If achieved, the capex would exceed the US$3.799 billion TSMC recorded in the first quarter of 2014 by 36 percent, IC Insights said.
“TSMC is the only pure-play foundry to offer leading technology and it is seeing very strong demand for its 7-nanometer [nm] process, which is expected to represent 33 percent of the company’s sales in the fourth quarter of 2019,” the report said.
“Most of its current investment will be aimed at adding capacity for its 7nm and 5nm technologies,” it said.
The forecast echoed an announcement by TSMC last month that capex for the year to date had risen to between US$14 billion and US$15 billion.
This year’s capex would be the highest in the company’s history, it said.
TSMC’s capex was US$2.464 billion and US$3.741 billion in the first and second quarters respectively, while the company predicted US$14.5 billion for the whole year, IC Insights said.
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