TSMC Q3 sales hit high, beat expectations

Taipei, Oct. 9 (CNA) Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world's largest contract chipmaker, on Wednesday reported record quarterly sales in the third quarter of this year, with the data beating an earlier company forecast and market analysts attributing the strong performance to robust global demand for artificial intelligence applications.

Analysts also said TSMC received an additional boost in its third quarter sales from an increase in orders from Apple Inc. in preparation for the debut of the company's newest iPhone 16 models in September.

In a statement, TSMC said it posted NT$759.69 billion (US$23.59 billion) in consolidated sales in the July-September period, up 12.8 percent from a quarter earlier and up almost 39 percent from a year earlier.

At an investor conference held in mid-July, TSMC provided guidance, saying its sales for the third quarter could range between US$22.4 billion and US$23.2 billion.

Based on an exchange rate of NT$32.50 the chipmaker used to make the estimate, third quarter consolidated sales were expected to range between NT$728 billion and NT$754 billion in Taiwan dollar terms, which was topped by the real numbers released Wednesday.

In September, TSMC's consolidated sales hit NT$251.87 billion, up 0.4 percent from a month earlier and up 39.6 percent from a year earlier. The September figure was the second highest monthly level for the company, trailing only the NT$256.95 billion recorded in July.

In the first nine months of this year, TSMC generated about NT$2.03 trillion in consolidated sales, up 31.9 percent from a year earlier.

Analysts said TSMC's sales growth momentum is expected to continue into the fourth quarter on growing demand for AI development, which is likely to keep pushing up its shipments of chips made on high-end processes.

An increase in orders from Apple and other tech giants, such as Taiwan-based smartphone IC designer MediaTek Inc. and U.S.-based smartphone IC design house Qualcomm Inc., is expected to lend additional support to TSMC's sales in the fourth quarter.

TSMC has forecast its sales will grow 24-26 percent from a year earlier in 2024 in U.S. dollar terms, beating an expected 10 percent growth in sales for the global semiconductor industry as a whole, excluding the memory chip segment.