Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) reported a 32 per cent boost in profits in Q4 2012. TSMC is the world’s largest contract chip manufacturer and is doing well riding the smartphone and tablet popularity wave. In a statement today the company said it made US$1.4 billion in profits during the final quarter of 2012.
“In the fourth quarter, demand for our products was higher than we expected three months ago, resulting in above-guidance revenue and profit margins,” said Lora Ho, SVP and Chief Financial Officer of TSMC. “We now expect the supply chain inventory DOI to decline only slightly in the first quarter, and our revenue will also decline only slightly in the first quarter from the previous quarter.” So Q1 will be a little slower, many other firms have predicted a slight lull after the holiday season.
Looking forward at the rest of 2013, TSMC is planning to invest US$9 billion in order to beat off the competition. Chairman and CEO Morris Chang said that the company needs to be “ready to fight ... every new competitor”.
Apple A6X production rumours
There have been rumours here and there about TSMC taking over from Samsung to produce Apple’s A6X processors. A c-net report quoted the Taiwan-based Commercial Times to say “Apple has agreed with TSMC to initiate trial production of its A6X processor during the first quarter”. At the time of this report, at the start of January “sources indicated that Apple's switch to TSMC would coincide with its transition to 20-nanometer technology”.
The rumours got a bit tastier yesterday when a new report on DigiTimes suggested that TSMC is “securing its first chip orders from Apple that will use TSMC's 16nm FinFET process that could play a key role in Apple's breakthrough product due out sometime between late 2013 and 2014.” The product using the TSMC produced 16nm FinFET chip isn’t known, it’s still a year away. That could be three new iProduct generations later!
