Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company on Thursday reported a 35% increase in fourth-quarter profit, beating estimates and hitting a fresh record as demand for artificial intelligence chips remained strong.
Here are the company's results versus LSEG SmartEstimates, which are weighted toward forecasts from analysts who are more consistently accurate:
Revenue: 1.046 trillion new Taiwan dollars ($33.73 billion), vs. NT$1.034 trillion expected
Net income: NT$505.74 billion, vs. NT$478.37 billion expected
The world's largest contract chipmaker has now posted year-over-year profit growth for eight consecutive quarters.
Meanwhile, TSMC's revenue in the December quarter rose by 20.5% from a year ago to surpass NT$1 trillion, also beating forecasts.
In an earnings call, TSMC executives guided revenue for the current quarter to hit between $34.6 billion and $35.8 billion, up 4% sequentially, or up 38% year-over-year at the midpoint.
"We expect our business to be supported by continued strong demand for our leading edge process technologies," said TSMC's Chief Financial Officer Wendell Huang during an earnings call, adding that the company's profit margins have been increasing.
TSMC, Asia's largest technology company by market capitalization, has benefited greatly from the proliferation of artificial intelligence, producing advanced AI processors for clients such as Nvidia and AMD.
The company's high-performance computing division, which includes artificial intelligence and 5G applications, made up the majority of sales in the October-December quarter at 55%. Demand from smartphones made up 32% of sales.
... continue reading