TSMC to pay NT$4.0 cash dividend per share for Q1 earnings

Taipei, May 10 (CNA) Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) will pay a cash dividend of NT$4.0 (US$0.12) per share on its 2024 first quarter earnings, it said Friday after the dividend plan was approved at a board meeting.

The first quarter dividend payout will top the NT$3.5 cash dividend for the fourth quarter of 2023 despite a sequential fall in earnings.

TSMC posted a net profit of NT$225.49 billion in the first quarter, down 5.5 percent from a quarter earlier but up 8.9 percent from a year earlier as solid demand for consumer electronics gadgets, Internet of the Things applications and high performance computing devices offset weakness in global smartphone markets.

During the January-March period, TSMC had earnings per share of NT$8.70, compared with NT$9.21 a quarter earlier and NT$7.98 in the first quarter of 2023.

The NT$4.0 cash dividend represents a dividend payout ratio of about 45.98 percent.

● TSMC sales in April hit second-highest monthly level

TSMC said the ex-dividend date (when a stock starts trading after the cash dividend has been deducted from its price), has been set for Sept. 12, and the dividends will be paid on Oct. 9.

TSMC Chairman Mark Liu (劉德音), who owns 12.91 million TSMC shares, is expected to receive NT$51.64 million in cash dividends in October under the dividend plan while TSMC CEO C.C. Wei (魏哲家) is expected to pocket NT$25.57 million from the 6.39 million TSMC shares he owns.

The National Development Fund under the Executive Yuan, the largest single shareholder of TSMC, is expected to receive NT$6.61 billion in cash dividends as the fund currently owns 1.65 billion shares of the company, or a 6.38 percent stake.

In 2019, TSMC became the first company in Taiwan to start issuing cash dividends on a quarterly basis instead of annually. Analysts said such a change is expected to make investors more willing to hold onto the stock longer.