Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday edged toward fresh highs after raising growth projections and unveiling record spending, underscoring expectations the voracious demand that fueled a global chip crunch will persist.
The world’s largest foundry jumped as much as 1.8 percent, boosting the benchmark TAIEX.
Apple Inc’s most important chipmaker is now projecting average sales growth of 15 to 20 percent annually — as much as double its previous expectation.
It intends to spend US$40 billion to US$44 billion expanding and upgrading capacity this year.
Those numbers affirm TSMC’s pole position in the market during an unprecedented chip shortage triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, a deficit that has badly affected the production of vehicles, mobile phones and game consoles.
It is spending heavily to maintain its technological lead over firms from Intel Corp to Samsung Electronics Co, safeguarding its market share as the growing number of connected devices drive data centers and high-end computing.
TSMC has been running at near-full capacity over the past year and is now investing heavily in new fabs from Taiwan to Japan and the US.
TSMC’s spending target for this year is up at least US$10 billion from last year and more than 43 percent higher than the US$25 billion to US$28 billion Intel has set aside this year to regain its once-dominant position.
The squeeze has been most notable in industries including automaking, wiping out an estimated US$200 billion in sales for automakers such as Volkswagen AG and General Motors Co last year.
Even Apple, TSMC’s top customer, has not been spared.
The iPhone maker said it lost US$6 billion in sales due to component shortages in the three months ended in September, while losses stemming from product constraints are expected to exceed US$6 billion in the holiday quarter.
Although an earlier share rally stalled after setting a record early last year — due to fallout from supply-chain issues — the Taiwanese chipmaker still delivered an annual gain of 16 percent.
Its market capitalization has surged to NT$17.4 trillion (US$629.89 billion), surpassing that of Tencent Holdings Ltd (騰訊) to make it Asia’s most valuable company.
TSMC is “well positioned” in the industry and has room for further price increases in the years to come, Randy Abrams, managing director and head of Taiwan equity research at Credit Suisse Group AG, said in a Bloomberg Television interview.
SEASONAL WEAKNESS: The combined revenue of the top 10 foundries fell 5.4%, but rush orders and China’s subsidies partially offset slowing demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) further solidified its dominance in the global wafer foundry business in the first quarter of this year, remaining far ahead of its closest rival, Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. TSMC posted US$25.52 billion in sales in the January-to-March period, down 5 percent from the previous quarter, but its market share rose from 67.1 percent the previous quarter to 67.6 percent, TrendForce said in a report. While smartphone-related wafer shipments declined in the first quarter due to seasonal factors, solid demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) devices and urgent TV-related orders
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and the University of Tokyo (UTokyo) yesterday announced the launch of the TSMC-UTokyo Lab to promote advanced semiconductor research, education and talent development. The lab is TSMC’s first laboratory collaboration with a university outside Taiwan, the company said in a statement. The lab would leverage “the extensive knowledge, experience, and creativity” of both institutions, the company said. It is located in the Asano Section of UTokyo’s Hongo, Tokyo, campus and would be managed by UTokyo faculty, guided by directors from UTokyo and TSMC, the company said. TSMC began working with UTokyo in 2019, resulting in 21 research projects,
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