Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world's largest made-to-order chip supplier, had its rating raised to "overweight" from "equal weight" at Morgan Stanley, which cited a better outlook for the industry.
Morgan Stanley's Sunil Gupta set a 12-month price estimate for the company of NT$79 (US$2.4), a 6.8 percent increase on the NT$74 rating on Jan. 11, the analyst said in a research report yesterday. TSMC shares closed 1.6 percent higher at NT$62.70 at the 1:30pm in Taipei.
Gupta cited TSMC's ability to achieve capacity growth targets with lower capital spending, the recent New Taiwan dollar depreciation against the US currency and the made-to-order chip industry's restraint in increasing production capacity as factors behind his upgrade.
The Hsinchu-based company's fourth-quarter sales grew faster than those of closest rival United Microelectronics Corp (
TSMC said on Jan. 26 that fourth-quarter profit rose 53 percent to a record, on demand for chips used in Xbox game consoles and Razr cellphones. Net income increased to NT$33.9 billion from NT$22.2 billion a year earlier.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) secured a record 70.2 percent share of the global foundry business in the second quarter, up from 67.6 percent the previous quarter, and continued widening its lead over second-placed Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said on Monday. TSMC posted US$30.24 billion in sales in the April-to-June period, up 18.5 percent from the previous quarter, driven by major smartphone customers entering their ramp-up cycle and robust demand for artificial intelligence chips, laptops and PCs, which boosted wafer shipments and average selling prices, TrendForce said in a report. Samsung’s sales also grew in the second quarter, up
LIMITED IMPACT: Investor confidence was likely sustained by its relatively small exposure to the Chinese market, as only less advanced chips are made in Nanjing Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) saw its stock price close steady yesterday in a sign that the loss of the validated end user (VEU) status for its Nanjing, China, fab should have a mild impact on the world’s biggest contract chipmaker financially and technologically. Media reports about the waiver loss sent TSMC down 1.29 percent during the early trading session yesterday, but the stock soon regained strength and ended at NT$1,160, unchanged from Tuesday. Investors’ confidence in TSMC was likely built on its relatively small exposure to the Chinese market, as Chinese customers contributed about 9 percent to TSMC’s revenue last
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