Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) revenue rose to a record in the first quarter on demand for chips used in smartphones, computers and vehicles, while a prolonged shortage helped to boost prices.
Revenue jumped 36 percent to NT$491.1 billion (US$17 billion) in the first quarter, the company said in a statement yesterday.
Analysts estimated NT$469.4 billion on average.
Photo: Cheng I-hwa, Bloomberg
Demand for mobile phones, smart televisions and other gadgets from makers such as Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co remains robust even as consumers in major markets in Europe and the US exit COVID-19 pandemic-era lockdowns and work-from-home arrangements.
Meanwhile, a chip shortage is yet to ease — the wait times for semiconductor delivery grew again last month due to China’s COVID-19 lockdowns and an earthquake in Japan that hit production, research by Susquehanna Financial Group said.
TSMC has kept production running in China, even as many other factories suspended operations to cope with the local pandemic policy. The chip assembler said at the end of last month that it would rearrange production priorities to deal with a shift in demand caused by COVID-19 restrictions in Shanghai and Shenzhen.
TSMC was not planning to revise down its sales and capital spending forecasts for this year, chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) said at the time.
Shares of TSMC have lost about 8 percent this year, hurt by a broader decline in global technology stocks and China’s lockdowns, which have weighed on consumer demand and affected supply chains. The stock advanced 0.2 percent yesterday ahead of the company’s report.
Separately, contract chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) yesterday said revenue soared 34.66 percent last quarter to a new record high of NT$63.42 billion, compared with NT$47.1 billion in the same period last year.
On a quarterly basis, revenue expanded 7.31 percent, slightly better than the chipmaker’s expectations.
UMC expected revenue to rise about 5 percent sequentially, primarily due to price hikes, citing strong chip demand from makers of vehicles, Internet-of-Things devices and display drivers.
UMC forecast that revenue growth this year would outstrip the foundry’s sector projected growth of 20 percent in a best-case scenario.
Additional reporting by Lisa Wang
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