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.
Global index provider MSCI Inc has raised Taiwan’s weighting in one of its major indices, but left the country’s weighting in two others unchanged.MSCI yesterday said in a statement that following a quarterly review, it increased Taiwan’s weighting in the MSCI All-Country Asia ex-Japan Index by 0.03
LOCAL INNOVATION: Hon Hai was not among the top 10 local patent applicants, because the company assigns its research and development in the US and Japan Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, took the top spot among patent applicants in the country for the seventh consecutive year last year, the Intellectual Property Office of the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Friday.TSMC last year filed 1,5
QUICK REVERSAL: The move sent the chipmaker’s share price down 3.67 percent, after the billionaire investor’s company in October disclosed a major TSMC stake Warren Buffett slashed his holding of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) just months after disclosing a major stake, an unusually quick reversal by the billionaire investor that is chilling investor sentiment toward the chip giant.Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc cut its holding of TS
TSMC MEETING: The US lawmakers said the visit is not meant to provoke China, but to deepen cooperation in economic and political matters, as cross-party talks are planned The US and Taiwan should increase cooperation in manufacturing and innovation to benefit the world, a visiting US delegation said after meeting with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) founder Morris Chang (張忠謀) yesterday.US representatives Ro Khanna, Jake Auchincloss, Jonathan Jackson
Merida Industry Co (美利達) has seen signs of recovery in the US and European markets this year, as customers are gradually depleting their inventories, the bicycle maker told shareholders yesterday. Given robust growth in new orders at its Taiwanese factory, coupled with its subsidiaries’ improving performance, Merida said it remains confident about the bicycle market’s prospects and expects steady growth in its core business this year. CAUTION ON CHINA However, the company must handle the Chinese market with great caution, as sales of road bikes there have declined significantly, affecting its revenue and profitability, Merida said in a statement, adding that it would
MARKET LEADERSHIP: Investors are flocking to Nvidia, drawn by the company’s long-term fundamntals, dominant position in the AI sector, and pricing and margin power Two years after Nvidia Corp made history by becoming the first chipmaker to achieve a US$1 trillion market capitalization, an even more remarkable milestone is within its grasp: becoming the first company to reach US$4 trillion. After the emergence of China’s DeepSeek (深度求索) sent the stock plunging earlier this year and stoked concerns that outlays on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure were set to slow, Nvidia shares have rallied back to a record. The company’s biggest customers remain full steam ahead on spending, much of which is flowing to its computing systems. Microsoft Corp, Meta Platforms Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Alphabet Inc are
RISING: Strong exports, and life insurance companies’ efforts to manage currency risks indicates the NT dollar would eventually pass the 29 level, an expert said The New Taiwan dollar yesterday rallied to its strongest in three years amid inflows to the nation’s stock market and broad-based weakness in the US dollar. Exporter sales of the US currency and a repatriation of funds from local asset managers also played a role, said two traders, who asked not to be identified as they were not authorized to speak publicly. State-owned banks were seen buying the greenback yesterday, but only at a moderate scale, the traders said. The local currency gained 0.77 percent, outperforming almost all of its Asian peers, to close at NT$29.165 per US dollar in Taipei trading yesterday. The
The US overtaking China as Taiwan’s top export destination could boost industrial development and wage growth, given the US is a high-income economy, an economist said yesterday. However, Taiwan still needs to diversify its export markets due to the unpredictability of US President Donald Trump’s administration, said Chiou Jiunn-rong (邱俊榮), an economics professor at National Central University. Taiwan’s exports soared to a record US$51.74 billion last month, driven by strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) products and continued orders, with information and communication technology (ICT) and audio/video products leading all sectors. The US reclaimed its position as Taiwan’s top export market, accounting for
RSS