Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reported annual revenue growth of 16.2 percent to NT$200.05 billion (US$6.64 billion) last month, indicating that the world’s biggest contract chipmaker and a sole chip supplier for iPhones was unfazed by quarters-long supply chain inventory corrections.
Last month’s revenue was the strongest January performance in the chipmaker’s history. On a sequential basis, revenue expanded 3.9 percent, from NT$192.56 billion in December, the company said in a statement.
However, TSMC is not immune to the supply chain correction cycles and could start seeing weaker monthly revenue from this month, as the company forecast that revenue would dip 16 to 12 percent to US$16.7 billion to US$17.5 billion this quarter, compared with US$19.93 billion last quarter.
Photo: AFP
“As customers and supply chains continue to take actions, we forecast semiconductor or inventory will reduce sharply through the first half of 2023,” TSMC CEO C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors last month.
The chipmaker expected revenue to decline by a mid-to-high single-digit percentage in the first half of this year with softer-than-expected demand for 7-nanometer chips used mostly in consumer electronics than it forecast in October last year, Wei said.
TSMC expects a milder pickup in demand for 7-nanometer chips in the second half than it expected three months ago, Wei said.
Separately, MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday reported revenue of NT$22.38 billion for last month, down 48.55 percent year-on-year from NT$43.5 billion.
On a monthly basis, revenue dropped 42.14 percent from NT$38.69 billion in December, the world’s biggest supplier of 5G smartphone chips said.
Last month’s revenue was the lowest in 31 months, as excessive inventory depressed smartphone chip demand. Smartphone chips contributed more than half of the company’s revenue last quarter.
MediaTek earlier this month said that most customers were conservative about their business outlook and have been carefully managing their inventory.
MediaTek is a customer of TSMC.
MediaTek expected revenue to hit the bottom this quarter, paving the way for a rebound next quarter.
The company expected order visibility to improve starting next quarter, citing some early signs of mild pickup in demand for TV chips and Wi-Fi chips following an economic reopening in China.
The Hsinchu-based company projected that revenue this quarter would shrink 6 to 14 percent sequentially to NT$93 billion to NT$101.7 billion.
That would make this quarter the worst since the fourth quarter of 2020.
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