TSMC Q1 net profit up 8.9% year-on-year

Taipei, April 18 (CNA) Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) reported on Thursday that its net profit for the first quarter of this year was up almost 9 percent from a year earlier after it posted its highest-ever first-quarter sales.

In a statement, TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker, said it raked in NT$225.49 billion (US$6.96 billion) in net profit in the January-March quarter, up 8.9 percent from a year earlier. Consolidated sales also hit NT$592.64 billion, the highest-ever first-quarter level and up 16.5 percent from a year earlier.

Market analysts said TSMC benefited from solid demand for its advanced processes commonly used in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence applications and high-performance computing (HPC) devices, which offset the weakness in the global smartphone market.

However, TSMC's first-quarter net profit fell 5.5 percent from a quarter earlier due to off-season effects, with consolidated sales down 5.3 percent quarter-on-quarter.

In the first quarter, TSMC's earnings per share stood at NT$8.70, up from NT$7.98 over the same period of last year but down from NT$9.21 in the fourth quarter, the chipmaker said.

In U.S. dollar terms, TSMC's consolidated sales for the first quarter reached US$18.87 billion, beating the company's earlier forecast of between US$18.0 billion and US$18.8 billion.

During the January-March period, TSMC's gross margin -- the difference between revenue and the cost of goods sold -- hit 53.1 percent, within the company's earlier expectation of 52-54 percent.

TSMC said sales generated from its consumer electronics platform rose 33 percent from a quarter earlier in the first quarter, the highest growth among its business divisions. Meanwhile, sales posted from its Internet of Things platform grew 5 percent and from the HPC platform grew 3 percent, also from a quarter earlier.

Bucking the upturn, sales generated from its smartphone division fell 16 percent from a quarter earlier while revenue posted in the automotive electronics division was little changed, TSMC said.

According to TSMC, sales from chips made using its advanced 3 nanometer process accounted for 9 percent of first quarter sales, revenue from the 5nm process made up 37 percent, and the 7nm process represented 19 percent.

Sales of TSMC's 3nm, 5nm and 7nm chips accounted for 65 percent of its total sales in the first quarter, the chipmaker said.

The 3nm process is the latest technology TSMC is using in commercial production. The chipmaker is also developing the more sophisticated 2nm process, which it is scheduled to start using to mass-produce chips in 2025.