Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) investors’ conference on Thursday could not have come at a better time. As the local bourse suffered a 4.48 percent slump last week, investors were hoping the chipmaker could shed light on the latest developments in the semiconductor industry and that its third-quarter results could help stabilize the market.
The world’s largest contract chipmaker posted strong sales for last month, hitting the second-highest level in the company’s history at NT$94.92 billion (US$3.07 billion), with cumulative sales in the first nine months increasing 6 percent year-on-year to NT$741.73 billion.
However, given macroeconomic uncertainty caused by the US-China trade dispute and the overall downturn in the semiconductor industry due to product cycles and market dynamics, TSMC is not immune to clients’ conservative placing of orders, even though it is doing better than its peers, analysts said.
The company’s fourth-quarter sales are predicted to increase by 10 to 12 percent from last quarter’s NT$260.35 billion, with a gross margin of 49.9 percent and operating margin of 38.2 percent, as well as earnings per share of NT$3.92, Maybank Kim Eng Securities Pte Ltd said in a note on Monday, adding that its sales and earnings forecasts are 3 to 5 percent below the market consensus.
TSMC, the most heavily weighted stock on the local market and a major supplier of processors to Apple Inc, on Friday ended 4.18 percent higher at NT$237 in Taipei trading, compared with the 2.44 percent gain on the broader market, which during the previous session plunged 6.31 percent, its largest-ever one-day loss.
Amid market turmoil, the stock’s defensive nature is becoming more important, analysts said, citing TSMC’s stable industry position and financial strength.
In addition, the Taiwanese chipmaker is likely to become the sole foundry for Advanced Micro Devices Inc’s processors, starting by producing 7-nanometer chips, after Globalfoundries Inc in late August said that it would no longer produce chips using the more advanced process technology, Maybank said.
TSMC is also to receive all of the orders for Apple’s A13 chips next year, DigiTimes reported on its Web site on Friday.
Other major heavyweights in the high-tech sector — including Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科), Win Semiconductors Corp (穩懋), Powertech Technology Inc (力成), Macronix International Co (旺宏) and AU Optronics Corp (友達) — are to hold their earnings conferences later this month and their quarterly results and near-term outlooks, especially with regard to clients’ year-end inventory adjustments, would offer an insight into local equities in the fourth quarter, analysts said.
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
‘MAKE OR BREAK’: Nvidia shares remain down more than 9 percent, but investors are hoping CEO Jensen Huang’s speech can stave off fears that the sales boom is peaking Shares in Nvidia Corp’s Taiwanese suppliers mostly closed higher yesterday on hopes that the US artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer would showcase next-generation technologies at its annual AI conference slated to open later in the day. The GPU Technology Conference (GTC) in California is to feature developers, engineers, researchers, inventors and information technology professionals, and would focus on AI, computer graphics, data science, machine learning and autonomous machines. The event comes at a make-or-break moment for the firm, as it heads into the next few quarters, with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s (黃仁勳) keynote speech today seen as having the ability to
NEXT GENERATION: The company also showcased automated machines, including a nursing robot called Nurabot, which is to enter service at a Taichung hospital this year Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) expects server revenue to exceed its iPhone revenue within two years, with the possibility of achieving this goal as early as this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) said on Tuesday at Nvidia Corp’s annual technology conference in San Jose, California. AI would be the primary focus this year for the company, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), as rapidly advancing AI applications are driving up demand for AI servers, Liu said. The production and shipment of Nvidia’s GB200 chips and the anticipated launch of GB300 chips in the second half of the year would propel
The battle for artificial intelligence supremacy hinges on microchips, but the semiconductor sector that produces them has a dirty secret: It is a major source of chemicals linked to cancer and other health problems. Global chip sales surged more than 19 percent to about US$628 billion last year, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association, which forecasts double-digit growth again this year. That is adding urgency to reducing the effects of “forever chemicals” — which are also used to make firefighting foam, nonstick pans, raincoats and other everyday items — as are regulators in the US and Europe who are beginning to
RSS