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進入《TAIPEI TIMES》 TSMC predicting revenue hit for Q1
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co chief executive C. C. Wei, second left, speaks at a news conference in Taipei yesterday, as, from left, director of corporate communications Elizabeth Sun, chairman Mark Liu and chief finanial officer Lora Ho look on. Photo: Ashley Pon, Bloomberg
LAST YEAR: Net profit was a record NT$351.13 billion, while consolidated revenue was a record NT$1.03 trillion, the chipmaker said ahead of an investors’ conference
By Lisa Wang / Staff reporter
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co （TSMC, 台積電） yesterday forecast a 20 percent quarterly contraction in revenue for this quarter, attributable primarily to unexpectedly low sales of high-end smartphones and weakening macroeconomic prospects.
It would be the steepest decline since the first quarter of 2009, when the global financial crisis took a toll on the revenue of the chipmaker, which is the sole processor supplier for Apple Inc’s newest iPhones and also supplies chips to Huawei Technologies Co （華為）.
Flagging demand for premium smartphones costing at least US$500 has caused excessive inventory in the semiconductor supply chain, and it would take a couple of quarters for the supply chain to digest such excessive inventories, TSMC officials said at a quarterly investors’ conference in Taipei.
“These high inventories were caused by a sudden drop from the fourth quarter last year and [the weakness] has extended to the first quarter of this year,” chief executive C.C. Wei （魏哲家） said.
Revenue is expected to decline about 22 percent on a quarterly basis to between US$7.3 billion and US$7.4 billion from US$9.4 billion last quarter, the chipmaker said.
It expects to see a substantial cutback in its 7-nanometer wafer capacity and utilization this and next quarter, due to sluggish demand for high-end smartphones.
Lower utilization is to hit the chipmaker’s gross margin by more than 4 percentage points each quarter, and gross margin would sink to between 43 percent and 45 percent this quarter, from 47.7 percent in the final quarter of last year, it said.
The company is pinning its hopes on its high-performance computing business to drive revenue growth, replacing smartphones as its biggest revenue source.
Smartphones were its biggest revenue source last year, comprising 45 percent of the chipmaker’s overall revenue of NT$1.03 trillion （US$33.39 billion）.
A steep decline in cryptocurrency mining activity is also weakening sales growth this year, the company said.
TSMC expects revenue to grow 1 percent to 3 percent year-on-year, falling short of its long-term goal of 5 percent to 10 percent annual growth.
However, it is still likely to outgrow its peers, as the firm forecast a stagnant year for the overall foundry sector.
In terms of technology, TSMC expects 7-nanometer technology to continue to be the biggest driving force, comprising one-quarter of overall revenue, officials said.
“We are tightening this year’s capital spending by several hundred million US dollars, to between US$10 billion and US$11 billion” in response to macroeconomic concerns, chief financial officer Lora Ho （何麗梅） said.
Three months ago, the firm planned to spend between US$10 billion and US$12 billion on new equipment, Ho said.
In a statement released after the Taiwan Stock Exchange closed, TSMC reported a record net profit of NT$351.13 billion for last year, after registering 12.3 percent quarterly growth in net profit for last quarter at NT$99.98 billion.
That translated into earnings per share of NT$13.54, up from NT$13.23 in 2017.
Consolidated revenue rose 5.5 percent to an all-time high of NT$1.03 trillion, compared with NT$977.45 billion a year earlier, the statement said.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
