Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) shares hit a new record in midday trading yesterday, bringing the world’s largest contract chipmaker’s market capitalization to NT$4.31 trillion (US$133.82 billion).
The stock price of TSMC increased 0.3 percent to NT$166.50 yesterday morning before closing flat at NT$166, the record it set on Friday last week.
The share price surge solidified TSMC’s position as the most valuable listed company in Taiwan, well ahead of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd’s (鴻海精密) NT$1.3 trillion and Chunghwa Telecom Co’s (中華電信) NT$923.14 billion.
TSMC, which supplies chips to Apple Inc’s iPhones, is a favorite with foreign investors, whose holdings increased from 77.13 percent of the company’s stock at the beginning of the year to 78.76 percent as of Friday last week, Taiwan Stock Exchange statistics showed.
The TAIEX inched up 0.26 percent yesterday.
TSMC is expected to give its latest business outlook and release last quarter’s earnings report on Thursday next week, with investors eying TSMC’s order gains from Apple for new iPhones.
TSMC “should see a sharp increase in its 16-nanometer orders in the second half with the help of a share gain in Apple’s A10 application processor,” BNP Paribas semiconductor analyst Laura Chen (陳佳儀) said in a report released on June 24.
As a result, Apple’s direct sales contribution is expected to double to 15 percent of TSMC’s revenue in the second half of this year, compared with 7 to 8 percent last year, Chen said.
Chen expects TSMC to retain its strong position in Apple’s supply chain over the next two years, as Samsung Electronics Co is facing challenges in improving a new chip packaging technology’s yield.
She retained her “Buy” rating on TSMC.
Chen added that order “inflow from major clients, especially HiSilicon Technologies Co (海思半導體), MediaTek Inc (聯發科) and Qualcomm Inc, looks set to remain strong due to increasing smartphone demand in China.”
TSMC’s 28-nanometer utilization rate is expected to be fully loaded in the second and third quarters, which would support the company’s sales and margins, Chen said.
The chipmaker was expected to grow its net profit by 0.77 percent sequentially to NT$65.3 billion last quarter, compared with NT$64.8 billion in the first quarter, she said.
TSMC’s net profit is expected to expand 1.31 percent to NT$310.6 billion this year, from NT$306.57 billion last year, she said.
Its revenue is expected to increase 9.39 percent to NT$922.7 billion this year from NT$843.5 billion last year, she added.
STILL HOPEFUL: Delayed payment of NT$5.35 billion from an Indian server client sent its earnings plunging last year, but the firm expects a gradual pickup ahead Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), the world’s No. 5 PC vendor, yesterday reported an 87 percent slump in net profit for last year, dragged by a massive overdue payment from an Indian cloud service provider. The Indian customer has delayed payment totaling NT$5.35 billion (US$162.7 million), Asustek chief financial officer Nick Wu (吳長榮) told an online earnings conference. Asustek shipped servers to India between April and June last year. The customer told Asustek that it is launching multiple fundraising projects and expected to repay the debt in the short term, Wu said. The Indian customer accounted for less than 10 percent to Asustek’s
‘DECENT RESULTS’: The company said it is confident thanks to an improving world economy and uptakes in new wireless and AI technologies, despite US uncertainty Pegatron Corp (和碩) yesterday said it plans to build a new server manufacturing factory in the US this year to address US President Donald Trump’s new tariff policy. That would be the second server production base for Pegatron in addition to the existing facilities in Taoyuan, the iPhone assembler said. Servers are one of the new businesses Pegatron has explored in recent years to develop a more balanced product lineup. “We aim to provide our services from a location in the vicinity of our customers,” Pegatron president and chief executive officer Gary Cheng (鄭光治) told an online earnings conference yesterday. “We
LEAK SOURCE? There would be concern over the possibility of tech leaks if TSMC were to form a joint venture to operate Intel’s factories, an analyst said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday stayed mum after a report said that the chipmaker has pitched chip designers Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc and Broadcom Inc about taking a stake in a joint venture to operate Intel Corp’s factories. Industry sources told the Central News Agency (CNA) that the possibility of TSMC proposing to operate Intel’s wafer fabs is low, as the Taiwanese chipmaker has always focused on its core business. There is also concern over possible technology leaks if TSMC were to form a joint venture to operate Intel’s factories, Concord Securities Co (康和證券) analyst Kerry Huang (黃志祺)
It was late morning and steam was rising from water tanks atop the colorful, but opaque-windowed, “soapland” sex parlors in a historic Tokyo red-light district. Walking through the narrow streets, camera in hand, was Beniko — a former sex worker who is trying to capture the spirit of the area once known as Yoshiwara through photography. “People often talk about this neighborhood having a ‘bad history,’” said Beniko, who goes by her nickname. “But the truth is that through the years people have lived here, made a life here, sometimes struggled to survive. I want to share that reality.” In its mid-17th to
RSS