Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to post a 25 percent year-on-year increase in sales in the first quarter of this year to US$12.91 billion, up from US$10.31 billion a year earlier, as its production is at full capacity, market advisory firm TrendForce Corp said in a note last week.
The increase would help TSMC cement its leadership in the industry by taking a 56 percent market share in the global pure wafer foundry business, TrendForce said.
Its forecast was in line with TSMC’s estimate in January, which pointed to a range of US$12.7 billion to US$13 billion for the first quarter.
Photo: Sam Yeh, AFP
TSMC is to benefit from its efforts to develop a 5-nanometer production process, which began mass production in the second quarter of last year, TrendForce said.
The process is expected to account for about 20 percent of TSMC’s total revenue in the first quarter, it added.
TSMC is expected to continue to see solid demand for its 7-nanometer technology from major customers, such as US-based Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Nvidia Corp and Qualcomm Inc, as well as Taiwan’s MediaTek Inc (聯發科), TrendForce said.
The 7-nanometer process is expected to make up more than 30 percent of TSMC’s total sales in the first quarter, the advisory firm said.
TSMC is expected to receive an additional boost from strong global demand for 5G applications, high-performance computing devices and automotive electronics, it added.
Smaller local rival United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) is expected to see its sales for the first quarter rise 14 percent from a year earlier to US$1.60 billion, giving it a 7 percent market share and placing it third globally, TrendForce said.
UMC is expected to receive large orders in a wide range of products, such as driver ICs, power management ICs, radio-frequency applications and the Internet of Things, in the first quarter, it said.
South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co is expected to follow TSMC in sales, generating US$4.05 billion, up 11 percent from a year earlier, to take an 18 percent share in the global market, TrendForce said.
US-based GlobalFoundries Inc is expected to take the fourth position, generating US$1.47 billion in sales in the first quarter, followed by China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (中芯國際, US$1.06 billion), Israel’s Tower Semiconductor Ltd (US$345 million), Taiwan’s Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電, US$340 million) and Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進, US$327 million), China’s Hua Hong Semiconductor Ltd (華虹半導體, US$288 million) and South Korea’s DB HiTek Co (US$197 million).
On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump weighed in on a pressing national issue: The rebranding of a restaurant chain. Last week, Cracker Barrel, a Tennessee company whose nationwide locations lean heavily on a cozy, old-timey aesthetic — “rocking chairs on the porch, a warm fire in the hearth, peg games on the table” — announced it was updating its logo. Uncle Herschel, the man who once appeared next to the letters with a barrel, was gone. It sparked ire on the right, with Donald Trump Jr leading a charge against the rebranding: “WTF is wrong with Cracker Barrel?!” Later, Trump Sr weighed
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
HEADWINDS: Upfront investment is unavoidable in the merger, but cost savings would materialize over time, TS Financial Holding Co president Welch Lin said TS Financial Holding Co (台新新光金控) said it would take about two years before the benefits of its merger with Shin Kong Financial Holding Co (新光金控) become evident, as the group prioritizes the consolidation of its major subsidiaries. “The group’s priority is to complete the consolidation of different subsidiaries,” Welch Lin (林維俊), president of the nation’s fourth-largest financial conglomerate by assets, told reporters during its first earnings briefing since the merger took effect on July 24. The asset management units are scheduled to merge in November, followed by life insurance in January next year and securities operations in April, Lin said. Banking integration,
LOOPHOLES: The move is to end a break that was aiding foreign producers without any similar benefit for US manufacturers, the US Department of Commerce said US President Donald Trump’s administration would make it harder for Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc to ship critical equipment to their chipmaking operations in China, dealing a potential blow to the companies’ production in the world’s largest semiconductor market. The US Department of Commerce in a notice published on Friday said that it was revoking waivers for Samsung and SK Hynix to use US technologies in their Chinese operations. The companies had been operating in China under regulations that allow them to import chipmaking equipment without applying for a new license each time. The move would revise what is known