Taiwan Semiconductor Man-ufacturing Co (台積1q), the world's top maker of custom-designed chips, said third-quarter net income almost tripled, though the results were lower than expected because of lost production from last month's earthquake.
TSMC said earnings rose to NT$6.14 billion (US$193 million), or NT$ .81 per share, below the NT$6.6 billion forecast by four analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News. During the same quarter a year ago, it earned NT$2.12 billion.
"If not for the quake, TSMC's earnings could have reached NT$7 billion," said Andrew Lu, a senior analyst for CSFB in Taipei, who rates TSMC a "buy."
The Sept. 21 quake forced TSMC and many other Taiwan chipmakers to halt production temporarily. TSMC said it managed to recover in just five days, less than half the 12 days it originally estimated. Full production resumed on Oct. 1.
TSMC said it will take an NT$381 million loss on damage suffered from the quake as well as an earlier power outage in July.
Rising orders from Japanese and American clients are boosting earnings at TSMC and rival United Microelectronics Corp. Two weeks ago, Hitachi Ltd said it will consign about one-tenth of its future chip production needs to UMC and another Taiwanese company. That figure may jump to 30 percent, depending on market conditions, Hitachi said.
TSMC said sales rose 75 percent in the third quarter to NT$19.71 billion. Operating income rose 154 percent to NT$7.17 billion. It earned 81 NT cents per share, up from 28 NT cents in the third quarter of 1998.
Gross margins were 44.5 percent in the third quarter, up from 33.2 percent a year earlier.
So far this year TSMC is up 134 percent as investors bet demand for its products is rising from the US and Japan. By comparison, the benchmark index climbed 18 percent.
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