AFP – Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) yesterday said profit fell by a quarter in the third-quarter, but said demand was picking up for its advanced semiconductors needed for cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) applications.
TSMC, the world’s largest contract microchip maker, controls more than half of the world’s output of chips used in everything from smartphones to missiles.
The company said net profit decreased 24.9 per cent on-year in July-September to TWD211 billion (USD6.5 billion), while revenue fell 11 per cent to TWD546.7 billion.
“The AI demand continues to grow stronger and stronger. From the TSMC point of view, we have a capacity limitation to support the demand,” Chief Executive CC Wei said in an earnings call. “We are working hard to increase the capacity to meet their demand.”
Demand for high-performing chips has been robust, with companies building the hardware needed for AI to flourish in the wake of the successful launch of ChatGPT. But the chip industry faces uncertainty from high inflation and sluggish global economic growth caused in part by geopolitical tensions.
Replying to a question on the impact of the new export curbs, Wei said the company was still doing an assessment.
“So far we can tell you that the impact to TSMC is limited and manageable at least for the short term,” he said.
