Taipei, January 9 (Reuters) – Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world’s largest contract chipmaker, reported on Friday that fourth-quarter revenue rose 20.45% year-on-year, exceeding market expectations, as demand for the company’s products surged due to rising interest in artificial intelligence applications.
The company, whose customers include Nvidia and Apple, has been a major beneficiary of advances in artificial intelligence that have been enough to offset the pandemic’s gradual decline in demand for chips in consumer electronics such as tablets.
Revenue in the October-December period was NT$1.046 trillion ($33.11 billion), compared with NT$868.46 billion a year earlier, according to Reuters calculations based on monthly data released by the company.
The latest results beat the LSE Smart forecast of NT$1.036 trillion ($32.79 billion) from 20 analysts and were in line with the guidance of $32.2 billion to $33.4 billion issued by TSMC during its last earnings call in October. TSMC gives guidance only in U.S. dollars.
TSMC will report full fourth-quarter earnings on January 15, when it is expected to provide updated guidance for the quarter and full year, including its capital spending plans and revenue growth outlook.
TSMC’s Taipei-listed shares rose 44.2% last year, outperforming the broader market’s 25.7% gain.
Taiwan’s Foxconn, the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer and Nvidia’s largest server maker, also reported sales results on Monday, with fourth-quarter sales reaching NT$2.6028 trillion ($82.2 billion).
(USD 1 = ‌31.5950 NT$)
(Reporting by Wen-Yee Lee; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Jane Merriman)
