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TSMC's 2013 Revenue Hits New High

2014/01/15 | By Ken Liu

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world's No.1 supplier of tailor-made chips, announced consolidated revenue of NT$597.02 billion (US$19.9 billion) for 2013, surging a staggering 17.8% year on year to a new high.

Its revenue for December alone was around NT$49.68 billion (US$1.6 billion), up 12.1% from the previous month and 33.7% year on year to meet market expectations. The December revenue helped swell the company's revenue for the Oct.-Dec. quarter to NT$145.8 billion (US$4.8 billion), in line with the company's target in spite of contracting around 10% quarter on quarter.

Industry executives project the company's net profit from 2013 sales at record high of NT$6.5 per share based on the total NT$5.53 per share the company had made for the first three quarters.

The maker ascribes the hefty annual revenue growth mostly to strong demand for the company's 28-nanometer process foundry service, which surged to account for 35% of the company's total revenue at the end of 2013 from 22% in the beginning of that year.

While forecasting the company's revenue for the first quarter of 2014 to slip around 5% from last quarter because of seasonal factor, some industry executives estimate the company's revenue for 2014 to further advance mostly thanks to the company's persistent lead in the competition of advanced chip process technology. Nevertheless, some feel that the first-quarter revenue would dip 2%, or even inch up, at most due to depreciation of the New Taiwan Dollar against the U.S. dollar plus the estimated increase in shipments of Apple orders.

Regardless of the mixed forecasts for the company's revenue for the first quarter of 2014, industry executives agree that the company's revenue for the second quarter will grow briskly due to the company's 20nm process, which has entered into volume production and will begin generating revenue in March.

About the company's 2014 outlook, TSMC Chairman Morris Chang used to say the company's sales will begin to turn strong in the second quarter though visibility from the end of the fourth quarter to the first quarter remains hazy, being also upbeat about the company's 2015 business. (KL)