Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) overcame a Lunar New Year-truncated working month to generate record-high January revenues of NT$200.05 billion (US$6.64 billion), the world’s largest contract chipmaker announced Friday.
In a statement, TSMC said that its January consolidated sales were up 16.2 percent compared with the same month last year.
Even with the 10-day holiday reducing the number of working days, TSMC’s January revenues also rose 3.9 percent compared with December, typically a slow season for the industry, with analysts attributing the growth to the fulfillment of orders received at the end of the third quarter of 2022.
At an investor conference in mid-January, TSMC forecast first-quarter sales of between US$16.7 billion and US$17.5 billion.
The chipmaker said the forecast range’s median figure of US$17.1 billion would represent a 14.2 percent quarter-over-quarter fall.
When presenting its first-quarter guidance, which used an average exchange rate of NT$30.7, TSMC cited inventory adjustments in the global semiconductor industry for the expected decline.
Based on TSMC’s first-quarter sales forecast, analysts said it was possible the chipmaker could generate average monthly revenues below NT$200 billion in February and March to range between NT$156.7 billion and NT$168.6 billion — down more than 15 percent compared with January.
TSMC has forecast that its sales for the first half of this year will fall by 4-9 percent from a year earlier in U.S. dollar terms before staging a rebound in the second half of the year as inventory levels in the global semiconductor chain return to healthy levels.
The chipmaker has also predicted that its revenue for the whole of 2023 will grow slightly in U.S. dollar terms, beating a forecast 3 percent decline for the entire pure-play wafer foundry industry.
Earlier this week, United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC), a smaller contract chipmaker, said its consolidated sales for January fell 6.47 percent from December and also dropped 4.31 percent from a year earlier to a new low of NT$19.59 billion in 15 months.
Analysts said the weak sales momentum largely reflected falling demand for smartphones, computers and consumer electronics devices worldwide.
UMC has said its shipments for the first quarter will fall 17-19 percent from a quarter earlier, with production utilization likely to fall to 70 percent.
It is possible UMC will report a further fall in sales in February and March, analysts said.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel