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).
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