On June 9, 2021, an audience took photos at the TSMC booth at the World Semiconductor Conference in Nanjing (Photo source: Titanium Media App editor)
A recent news article "Economists called for TSMC to be seized" sparked heated discussion.
Regarding related topics, at the TSMC shareholders meeting on June 8, Chairman Liu Deyin said that TSMC has continued to communicate with various countries and is still observing and adapting. In addition, it has long-term communication with the US semiconductor industry, and most people in the local industry He also believes that if the United States wants to revive the semiconductor industry, it cannot rely solely on American semiconductor companies. It must open up semiconductor factories around the world to compete in the United States.
TSMC’s financial report on Wednesday showed that it is expected that TSMC’s revenue (sales) will increase by nearly 30% throughout 2022, mainly due to strong demand for advanced and special processes, which will become the driving force for performance growth.
html At the annual general meeting of shareholders held on the morning of June 8, Liu Deyin and TSMC management answered in detail hot issues such as overseas factory establishment, capital expenditure, and future prospects. With technology stocks in a downturn, the market is paying close attention to TSMC's next move. html On June 8, TSMC announced its operations in the first quarter of fiscal year 2021 and 2022, as well as its second quarter and full-year expected revenue at its annual shareholder meeting today.'s financial report shows that in 2021, TSMC's full-year consolidated revenue will be approximately US$56.95 billion (NT$1,587.42 billion), a year-on-year increase of 24.9%; net profit after tax will be US$21.4 billion, and earnings per share will be US$0.82; In the quarter, TSMC’s revenue was US$17.618 billion, net profit attributable to the parent company was US$7.273 billion, and earnings per share were US$0.28.
TSMC is the world's largest wafer foundry, accounting for more than 50% of the global chip foundry market, and maintains a leading position in manufacturing technology. Among them, TSMC expects to send samples to customers for the advanced 5nm performance version N4P in the second half of 2022; and for the most advanced 3nm process technology, TSMC said it is progressing smoothly.
TSMC Chairman Liu Deyin said that although inflation has eased slightly due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the impact of the epidemic, it is still at a high point. For the semiconductor high-tech industry, inflation has not yet had an impact, and the impact on demand will still be observed in the long term.
"The current inflation has no direct impact on the semiconductor industry, as the decline in demand is mainly in the field of consumer electronics such as smartphones and tablets. TSMC's automotive and HPC (data center) demand is stable, with full production capacity, and automotive demand exceeds the company's expectations. , so we are adjusting inventory." Liu Deyin said that the company's utilization rate is full for the rest of this year.
Looking forward to the future, Liu Deyin said that the company’s consolidated revenue is expected to reach US$17.6 billion to US$18.2 billion in the second quarter of 2022, with operating gross profit margin ranging from 56% to 58%, and operating net profit margin ranging from 45% to 47%; it is expected that in 2022 For the whole year, TSMC's revenue (sales) increased by nearly 30%, exceeding the market estimate of 25% to 29%.
Liu Deyin believes that as digitalization accelerates and semiconductor technology continues to lead, TSMC is entering a stage of high structural growth. For this reason, it must make advance preparations for factory expansion and significantly increase capital investment. Most semiconductor manufacturing expansion The factory will continue to be local, but will also be extended to the United States and Japan.
’s financial report shows that in 2022, TSMC will maintain its original expansion plan, with annual capital expenditures remaining between US$40 billion and US$44 billion. Among them, 70%-80% of the expenditure will be invested in advanced processes from 2nm to 7nm, about 10% will be used in photomasks and advanced packaging, and the rest will be invested in special processes.
Recently, TSMC announced that its first 2nm factory will be built in the Hsinchu N2 factory. Land acquisition is currently underway and construction is planned to start in the third quarter of this year. It is reported that the Hsinchu N2 plant will be constructed in four phases, with a total of four 12-inch wafer fabs built. It is expected to mass-produce a new generation of chips for Apple mobile phones in 2024.
TSMC Chairman Liu Deyin
Regarding the news of factory construction in Europe, Liu Deyin said that TSMC continues to evaluate possible factory construction plans in various locations. Customer demand is the main consideration when building overseas factories. It has already started building factories in the United States and Japan, and European customers Relatively few, it is still under evaluation, and there are no specific plans.
Regarding the progress of factory construction in the United States and cooperation between the United States, Japan and South Korea, Liu Deyin believes that the goal of various countries is not to surpass TSMC and does not consider this a threat. He emphasized that TSMC continues to strengthen the localization of the supply chain, expand local investment in materials, components, and services, and will also move towards high-tech equipment in the future.
The construction of TSMC's Arizona plant in the United States is currently progressing well. However, Liu Deyin is worried that the cost of building his US chip factory is higher than previously estimated. Therefore, he once again called for the U.S. government’s chip subsidy program at the shareholders’ meeting to support expansion to foreign companies like TSMC.
As for the cooperation between the United States and Japan in the development of 2nm technology, Liu Deyin said that TSMC and Intel are also developing, so they are not particularly worried. Some 2nm yield data are already quite good. I believe that when the United States and Japan discuss cooperation, they should also hope to have a backup plan (backup). .
Regarding the topic of the continued decline in stock prices, Liu Deyin believes that this is a collective phenomenon of technology stocks after the epidemic has recovered, and is not a problem of TSMC alone. "TSMC has entered a period of structural high growth...Technological leadership is the key to our growth."
Liu Deyin emphasized that in the past two years, the new crown epidemic has caused chaos in the semiconductor supply chain around the world, but TSMC has been at the forefront of production and shipment. The company will go all out to provide customers with maximum support and increase trust with customers.
html Attended the "China-U.S. Forum" hosted by the National People's Congress on Chongyang Festival on May 30, Chen Wenling, chief economist of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, called on China to seize TSMC when the United States and the West impose devastating sanctions on China just like they imposed sanctions on Russia. Once it's in hand, we can't let it escape to the United States.’s remarks are the latest and most prominent comments made by domestic economists on TSMC. Some media believe that this shows that the chip semiconductor industry has become a key strategic asset in global competition.
In response to Chen Wenling’s statement, TSMC did not directly respond as of press time.
However, in response to related questions, Liu Deyin stated at the shareholders' meeting that TSMC will be a stable production base in the field of semiconductor foundry. It is wasteful and futile to hope that the United States will vigorously produce semiconductors independently.
Liu Deyin emphasized that the next ten years will be a very good opportunity for the semiconductor industry. For TSMC, the most important thing is technological leadership. The company has been working in this field for 30 years. Its main purpose is to release the energy of semiconductor innovation, and innovation requires technology to produce products. In the future, we hope that TSMC will have the ability to absorb talents, become the TSMC of the world, and create innovation in the world.
(This article was first published on Titanium Media App, author | Lin Zhijia)
