Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reported revenue of NT$508.63 billion (US$16.7 billion) for last quarter, falling short of its estimate after sluggish demand for 7-nanometer chips used in smartphones and computers drove down last month’s revenue to the weakest level in about 17 months.
Revenue last month contracted 15.4 percent year-on-year and 10.9 percent month-on-month to NT$145.41 billion, the company said in a statement.
Based on TSMC’s foreign exchange rate assumption of NT$30.7 per US dollar, last quarter’s revenue amounted to US$16.56 billion, lower than its estimated range of US$16.7 billion to US$17.5 billion.
Photo: AFP
The world’s biggest contract chipmaker in January said the utilization rates of its 7-nanometer and 6-nanometer technologies would be greater than it had estimated a quarter earlier, due to end-market weakness in smartphones and PCs, as well as a delay in a customer’s scheduled product launch.
TSMC is expected to present detailed financial figures and its business outlook during a quarterly investors’ conference on Thursday next week. Company executives would also answer investors’ questions, which could include queries regarding the company’s investments in Arizona.
TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) has said that some clauses in application guidelines for chip investment subsidies under the US’ CHIPS and Science Act are unacceptable.
He said the company would discuss the matter with US authorities.
TSMC has pledged to invest US$40 billion on building advanced fabs in the US.
Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) yesterday said the ministry is closely watching the issue.
The ministry hopes that the US’ demands will not affect the cost of chip capacity buildup in the US, or industrial cooperation between Taiwan and US.
Separately, United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 3 contract chipmaker, yesterday posted revenue of NT$17.69 billion for last month, down 20.11 percent annually, but up 4.49 percent monthly.
During the first quarter, revenue dropped about 20 percent sequentially to NT$54.21 billion.
UMC had expected its revenue to shrink by about 18 to 19 percent, due mostly to declines in wafer shipments, as customer demand dwindled amid inventory corrections. Three months ago, the company told investors that average selling prices would remain flat.
UMC has expressed the hope that the first quarter will be a trough in terms of revenue and factory utilization.
MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the world’s largest 5G chip designer and one of TSMC’s customers, said revenue last quarter fell about 33 percent annually and 11.6 percent quarterly to NT$95.65 billion.
The figure matches MediaTek’s forecast of revenue of between NT$93 billion and NT$101.7 billion, as customers were conservative about their business outlook and have been managing inventory cautiously.
Revenue last month shrank 27.41 percent annually to NT$42.96 billion, but rose 41.73 percent from February’s NT$30.31 billion.
MediaTek said the first quarter would be the trough for this year, as inventory levels at its customers and channels are expected to fall substantially.
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