Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the sole microprocessor provider for Apple Inc’s latest iPhones, yesterday posted a 10.1 percent growth in revenue for last quarter to NT$277.57 billion (US$9.38 billion), surpassing its projection.
Three months ago, TSMC estimated that revenue in the quarter ending on Sunday last week would total between US$9.1 billion and US$9.2 billion.
The chipmaker attributed the growth to brisk demand for its advanced 10-nanometer chips.
TSMC supplies 10-nanometer chips to Apple and China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd (華為).
Revenue contribution from 10-nanometer chips might rise to 25 percent for last quarter, compared with 10 percent in the third quarter, the company said.
The Hsinchu-based chipmaker at the time said that it saw continuous strong growth from the automotive sector, the Internet of Things and high-performance computing, including cryptocurrency mining.
TSMC had added that there might be a seasonal weakness in the smartphone segment in the first quarter of this year, and that the company’s performance might follow the seasonal pattern.
Mobile phone processors contributed about half of the company’s revenue.
Last quarter’s figure marked a new record high, surpassing the NT$252.11 billion in the second quarter of last year.
Total revenue for last year was a historic high of NT$977.45 billion, up 3.1 percent from NT$947.94 billion in 2016, TSMC said in a statement.
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 3 contract chipmaker, posted a 12 percent decline in revenue for last month to NT$10.67 billion, compared with NT$12.15 billion in November last year.
Cumulative revenue last year totaled NT$149.28 billion, up 0.96 percent from NT$147.87 billion in 2016, the company said in a statement.
Meanwhile, DRAM chipmaker Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) posted NT$5.97 billion in revenue for last month, its highest level in eight years.
That figure represented monthly growth of 3.86 percent from NT$5.74 billion in November, which it attributed to 2 percent monthly price hikes and an increase in shipments, and an expansion of 39.91 percent from NT$4.26 billion from a year earlier.
For the whole of last year, revenue soared 31.95 percent to NT$54.93 billion, compared with NT$41.63 billion in 2016, it said.
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