TSMC reports highest sales for Q1

Taipei, April 10 (CNA) Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world's largest contract chipmaker, on Wednesday reported its record sales for the first quarter with analysts attributing the growth to solid demand for emerging technologies.

In a statement, TSMC said it posted NT$592.64 billion (US$18.52 billion) in consolidated sales in the January-March period, up 16.5 percent from a year earlier but down 5.26 percent from a quarter earlier.

Analysts said strong shipments of high-end chips used in emerging applications such as high-performance computing (HPC) devices helped TSMC generate record-high revenues for the first quarter.

Analysts added that demand for HPC gadgets also helped the chipmaker offset the impact resulting from the weakness in the global smartphone markets and cap the sequential sales decline in the quarter.

The first quarter revenue also beat TSMC's previous estimate which had expected its sales would range between U$18.0 billion and US$18.8 billion and in Taiwan dollar terms, the revenue would range between NT$559.80 billion and NT$584.68 billion.

TSMC made the sales forecast in mid-January, using an exchange rate of NT$31.1 against one U.S. dollar.

The chipmaker also posted the highest-ever sales of NT$195.21 billion for March, up 7.5 percent from a month earlier and also up 34.4 percent from a year earlier.

Analysts said a recent significant uptrend of TSMC's share price partly reflected optimism toward the first quarter sales in the wake of strong demand for the company's sophisticated processes.

In addition, analysts said, many investors have embraced high hopes that TSMC will come up with positive leads about the first quarter results and an outlook for the second quarter at an investor conference scheduled for April 18.

Analysts said TSMC's operations would stage a rebound in the second quarter from the first quarter, which is traditionally a slow season for the semiconductor industry.

On April 5, TSMC issued a statement saying its sales guidance made in January remained unchanged, although its production lines in Taiwan were disrupted by the major earthquake that hit the country earlier in the week.

Most of the equipment at its fabs in Taiwan was up and running again as of April 5, after a temporary suspension when the magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck on the morning of April 3.

TSMC said it was maintaining its sales revenue guidance for 2024, which it had issued in mid-January, projecting a 21-26 percent annual increase in U.S. dollar terms, above the expected 20 percent growth in the global pure-play wafer foundry industry.

On Tuesday, shares of TSMC, the most heavily weighted stock in the local market, closed at a record high of NT$819.00, up 4.60 percent, which pushed up the Taiex, the benchmark weighted index on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, up by 1.85 percent to end at a new high of 20,796.20.