Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said revenue for this quarter would be near the lower end of its guidance due to a magnitude 6.4 earthquake on the Richter scale that struck southern Taiwan last month.
The quake, which struck the southeastern part of Chaiyi County on Jan. 21, is estimated to cause TSMC losses of about NT$5.3 billion (US$161.4 million) in the first quarter, TSMC said in a statement.
However, the world’s largest contract chipmaker said its gross margin and operating margin forecasts in the quarter remain unchanged, as well as its full-year business outlook.
Photo: CNA
TSMC said the earthquake, along with several significant aftershocks throughout the Lunar New Year holiday, did not cause any structural damage to its fabs.
Water supply, power transmission, workplace safety systems and the company’s facility operations continue to function normally, it said.
However, a certain number of wafers in process were impacted and had to be scrapped due to the earthquake and aftershocks, TSMC said, without disclosing the exact numbers.
As the quake affected TSMC fabs at the Southern Taiwan Science Park (南部科學園區), which is a major site for producing advanced 3-nanometer and 5-nanometer process chips, the company experienced greater damage than the losses of NT$3 billion it incurred from the magnitude 7.2 earthquake on the Richter scale that struck in April last year.
TSMC yesterday said it expects revenue for the first quarter to be closer to the lower end of its US$25 billion to US$25.8 billion guidance made at an earnings conference on Jan. 16.
Its gross margin is forecast to stay unchanged at between 57 percent and 59 percent, and its operating margin remains between 46.5 percent and 48.5 percent, it said.
“The company is making every effort to recover the lost production, and there is no change to our full-year outlook,” TSMC said.
At last month’s earnings conference, TSMC projected revenue for this year to grow in the mid-20s compared with the year before, citing strong artificial intelligence (AI) and recovering non-AI demand, which would outpace the overall foundry industry’s 10 percent annual growth, it said.
TSMC’s remarks on the quake’s impact came as the company yesterday also reported that its consolidated revenue for last month reached NT$293.29 billion, an increase of 5.4 percent from the previous month and up 35.9 percent from a year earlier.
Last month’s revenue was the second-highest monthly sales in the company’s history, after the NT$314.24 billion it registered in October last year, TSMC data showed.
Shares in TSMC fell 1.78 percent in Taipei trading yesterday after its US depositary receipts fell 2.08 percent on Friday in New York, as the stock faces pressure from US President Donald Trump’s threats to slap tariffs on semiconductor imports.
The company is scheduled to hold a board meeting in Arizona this week, the first in TSMC’s 37-year history, and the market is speculating whether it would make any announcements to appease Trump.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
Intel Corp yesterday reinforced its determination to strengthen its partnerships with Taiwan’s ecosystem partners including original-electronic-manufacturing (OEM) companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電). “Tonight marks a new beginning. We renew our new partnership with Taiwan ecosystem,” Intel new chief executive officer Tan Lip-bu (陳立武) said at a dinner with representatives from the company’s local partners, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the US chip giant’s presence in Taiwan. Tan took the reins at Intel six weeks ago aiming to reform the chipmaker and revive its past glory. This is the first time Tan