The world’s biggest chipmaker missed its quarterly revenue targets for the first time in two years, a sorry sign for the ailing chip industry as demand declines.
Fourth-quarter revenue for TSMC jumped 43 per cent to A$29.9 billion, missing its forecast of A$30.3 billion.
December sales alone rose 24 per cent year-on-year to $9.18 billion.
TSMC is the exclusive supplier of Apple’s silicon chips for iPhones and Macs; the pandemic-related troubles at Foxconn’s Zhengzhou plant, and the resultant reduction in Apple’s production numbers, are expected to be a large factor in TSMC’s fourth-quarter woes.
In addition, TSMC has reduced its capital spending plans by 10 per cent, a sign that it expects the slowdown to continue.
This doesn’t mean the company has slowed down. Last month TSMC increased its investment in chip manufacturing in US state Arizona to A$58 billion, and started mass production of the next generation of chips.
