The world’s largest chip contract manufacturer TSMC also expects less demand for the current quarter. The Taiwanese group expects a turnover of between 15.2 and 16 billion dollars (to 14.6 billion euros), a decrease of almost a tenth compared to the previous quarter, it announced on Thursday in Hsinchu.
“We expect our business to continue to be impacted by inventory adjustments at our customers,” said CFO Wendell Huang. Profitability is also likely to decline further.
Target revenue for the current quarter was lower than analysts had expected on average. However, TSMC has not cut back on investment planning for this year; media reports had speculated about this in recent days. Demand in the first three months was also not as weak as widely feared.
Shares of chip equipment makers rose
The inventories of equipment suppliers in the chip industry benefited from this. Had their prices come under pressure in recent days as their major customer TSMC threatened to order fewer machines, now they have picked up the thread again. The share of the manufacturer of exposure machines ASML gained about 1 percent in Amsterdam, that of ASM International 1.2 percent. Papers from the German specialty machine manufacturer Aixtron, on the other hand, stagnated in the MDax. TSMC shares saw slight losses in New York trading.
Photo Gallery: This is what a TSMC factory looks like
TSMC Chief Financial Officer Huang spoke of a “reasonable and prudent” budget given the rolling plan of $32 to $36 billion for capital expenditures for this year. The Taiwanese business newspaper “Economic Daily News” said earlier this week that TSMC would like to limit spending to $28 to $32 billion.
The decline in demand is expected to slow down
According to business planning, the decline in demand in the second quarter should slow down compared to the previous quarter. In the first three months, TSMC posted revenue of $16.72 billion, down 16 percent from the previous quarter.
The bottom line is that the company, which counts tech giants such as Apple, Nvidia and AMD among its customers and is regarded as a benchmark for the electronics industry, made about 207 billion Taiwanese dollars (6.2 billion euros) in the first three months. gained profit. of the year. That was about 30 percent less than in the previous quarter. Due to the highly volatile prices, experts in the semiconductor industry usually compare the company figures with the previous quarter. Compared to the same period last year, TSMC was able to slightly increase turnover and profit.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
