TSMC sales fall steeply, as predicted

LONDON – December sales at leading foundry Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. declined by 16.2 percent sequentially, putting the quarterly sales just above the top end of the guidance given at the time of the company's third quarter financial results.

The steep sequential fall helped to fulfill a slow down predicted for the fourth quarter by Morris Chang, chairman and CEO of TSMC (Hsinchu, Taiwan) earlier in the year.

On an unconsolidated basis, net sales were approximately NT$36.56 billion (about $1.23 billion), a decrease of 16.2 percent from November 2012 and an increase of 19.6 percent over December 2011. Full-year revenues for 2012 totaled NT$499.87 billion (about $17.25 billion, an increase of 19.5 percent compared to 2011.

On a consolidated basis, net sales for December 2012 were approximately NT$37.11 billion (about $1.28 billion), a decrease of 16.1 percent from November 2012 and an increase of 18.8 percent over December 2011. Consolidated full-year revenues for 2012 totaled NT$506.25 billion (about $17.47 billion), an increase of 18.5 percent compared to 2011.

Rival foundry United Microelectronics Corp. (Hsinchu, Taiwan) also experienced a sharp sequential slow down in December 2012. UMC has announced December sales of NT$7.896 billion (about $270 million) down 13.5 percent from sales in November 2012 and down 3.8 percent from the same figure for December 2011. As a result UMC produced annual sales for 2012 of NT$105.9 billion (about $3.65 billion), up just 0.1 percent on the previous year.

In contrast, TSMC's sales for full year of more than NT500 billion –up 18.5 percent – produced record sales by a wide margin. The company has more than doubled its annual sales in nine years since 2003.


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