TSMC Posts Strong Q3 Performance Despite Market Slowdown... "Increased Demand for 5nm"

Sales Down 10.83% Year-on-Year
Market Forecast Exceeds by 1.17%

TSMC, the world's largest semiconductor foundry, recorded a decline in sales for the second consecutive quarter due to weak semiconductor demand amid the global economic downturn. However, the company's third-quarter sales slightly exceeded market expectations, leading to an assessment that it successfully managed its performance despite the industry slowdown.

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

On the 19th, TSMC announced that its third-quarter sales reached 546.733 billion New Taiwan dollars (approximately 22.89 trillion Korean won), down 10.83% compared to the same period last year. However, this figure surpassed market expectations (540.396 billion New Taiwan dollars) by 1.17%. This aligns with TSMC's previously provided third-quarter sales guidance of $16.7 billion (approximately 22.6619 trillion Korean won) to $17.5 billion.

Net profit also fell 24.87% year-on-year to 211 billion New Taiwan dollars but exceeded market forecasts (191.43 billion New Taiwan dollars) by 10.26%. Quarterly earnings per share (EPS) stood at 8.14 New Taiwan dollars (approximately 305 Korean won).

The market evaluated that TSMC managed to rebound from the previous quarter's performance decline despite the semiconductor industry's slowdown. Earlier, in the second quarter, TSMC experienced decreases in both sales and net profit for the first time in about four years since Q2 2019, due to reduced demand from customers amid the global economic recession.

TSMC explained, "Our leading 3-nanometer (nm) advanced process technology showed strong growth, and industry demand for 5-nanometer technology increased. Based on this, we continuously adjusted inventory to partially mitigate losses."

TSMC expects that expanding advanced foundry processes in the second half of this year will partially offset the impact of the market downturn. The company plans to begin small-scale pilot production of 2-nanometer semiconductors this year, laying the foundation for mass production in 2025.

Meanwhile, on the 18th, TSMC closed at $89.60 on the New York Stock Exchange, down 1.54% from the previous trading day.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.