chip foundry leader TSMC announced its revenue in August 2022, with the amount reaching the NT$200 billion mark in one fell swoop, reaching NT$218.132 billion, an increase of 16.8% from July and a significant increase of 58.7% from the same period in 2021, setting a record high in a single month. The cumulative revenue in the first eight months of 2022 was approximately RMB 1.430.112 billion, an increase of 43.5% over the same period in 2021, also hitting a new high in the same period.
According to TSMC's last quarter briefing, it is expected that the third-quarter revenue will fall from USD 19.8 billion to USD 20.6 billion, with a gross profit margin of 57.5% to 59.5%, and an operating profit margin of 47% to 49%. Based on the 1:29.7 exchange rate of USD against NT$, revenue reached 588.06 billion to 611.82 billion yuan in the third quarter, an increase of 9.2% to 12.7% over the second quarter. Judging from the total revenue of 404.895 billion yuan in July and August, the revenue in the next nine months can reach the financial report forecast target as long as it exceeds 183.165 billion yuan.
Recently, TSMC's stock price has been hit by news. It is rumored that the utilization rate of advanced processes' capacity has declined, and the decline will be estimated to last for a period of time. TSMC plans to shut down some EUV exposed equipment by the end of the year, saving huge power consumption of EUV. TSMC stated that it will not comment on market rumors. Some IC design companies privately stated that although considering the cooling of terminal demand, customer order cuts and power saving factors, foreign capital expects the N7/N6 power supply to reduce capital expenditures by 90% in 2023, evaluating the investment status, the power of the 7-nanometer process is unlikely to drop so outrageously.
Although the news hit TSMC's stock price, there is also good news that supports TSMC. Apple's annual autumn press conference on the 8th launched the iPhone 14 series. The latest foreign investment report pointed out that the iPhone 14 sales and node migration strategies may have a significant impact on TSMC's revenue in 2023, and continues to give it a "better than the market" rating and reiterate the target price of 780 yuan.
(First image source: shutterstock)
