TSMC’s October sales leap forward

Market news | November 11, 2022

By Peter Clarke

wafer Analog semiconductor

TSMC’s sales in October were up over 50 percent on the same month a year ago as the world’s leading chip manufacturer continued to defy a global chip market starting to fall.

UMC, the second-largest pure-play chip foundry after TSMC, also saw increased sales in October but its annual growth of 27.1 percent was down on where it has been during 2022.

The two foundries provide one indicator of global chip market trends although data from World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization had already started to contract in the third quarter, which was down 3.0 percent on an annual basis (see Chip market crash arrives – worse than expected).

TSMC’s net revenue in October 2022 was approximately NT$210.27 billion (about US$6.66 billion. This was up sequentially by 16.8 percent from September 2022 and an increase of 56.3 percent from October 2021.

TSMC does not provide commentary on its monthly sales figures. Latest set are certainly at odds with the general direction of travel for the industry and reportedly for TSMC (see Report: TSMC takes action in response to falling demand). It is has been reported that leading customers for its 3nm manufacturing process have pushed orders out into 2023.

Nonetheless, such is TSMC’s strong position with fabless chip companies it is keeping a boom year going. TSMC’s revenue for January through October 2022 totalled NT$1,848.63 billion (about US$58.52 billion), an increase of 44.0 percent compared to first ten months of 2021.

UMC’s October sales were NT$24.34 billion (about US$770 million), down 3.5 percent sequentially from September 2022 but up 27.1 percent compared with October 2021. UMC’s year-to-date sales were NT$235.21 billion (about US$7.45 billion) up 35.9 percent year-on-year.