By Religion Hung and Ben Blanchard
TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC is anticipated to report a 27% fall in second-quarter internet revenue on Thursday, as international financial woes dent demand for semiconductors, although analysts say enterprise efficiency is probably going to enhance within the present quarter.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker and a significant Apple and Nvidia provider, is prone to report internet revenue for the April-June interval of T$172.53 billion ($5.58 billion), down from T$237.0 billion a yr earlier, in response to the typical of 21 analysts polled by Reuters.
The forecast decline in revenue partly displays a sturdy efficiency within the earlier yr, when the corporate was nonetheless driving excessive on pent-up post-pandemic demand.
Analysts at Taiwan’s Fubon Funding stated they anticipated the second quarter to be the underside of the present downcycle however that whereas the scenario ought to enhance within the third quarter, it could be weaker than regular given continued stock construct ups which might be nonetheless being labored by means of.
One senior Taiwan fund manger informed Reuters that third quarter revenue would bounce again given expectations for AI demand and launches of latest iPhones forward of the year-end vacation procuring season.
“Taiwan has not likely benefited from electrical automobiles, for the reason that market is in China and most EV suppliers are in China. However synthetic intelligence (AI) is a special story,” he stated, requesting anonymity citing firm coverage. “Taiwan will profit most from AI as a result of the whole AI provide chain will be discovered right here.”
The second quarter is historically a sluggish interval for gross sales for the tech trade with demand often choosing up within the third quarter and in direction of the year-end procuring season.
TSMC, Asia’s most dear listed firm, posted a shock rise in internet revenue for the quarter ended March, up 2% from a yr earlier. However that was nonetheless the smallest quarterly progress since mid-2019 as international financial woes harm demand for chips.
Final month, the corporate stated shortly rising demand for AI functions was driving plenty of orders and that it anticipated a greater efficiency within the second half than the primary.
The brilliant outlook for AI functions has partly pushed up TSMC’s Taipei-listed inventory by virtually 30% thus far this yr, outperforming the broader market, which is up round 22%.
The corporate will present steering for the third quarter and replace earlier forecasts on its earnings name at 0600 GMT on Thursday.
TSMC’s second quarter income got here in at T$480.8 billion($15.53 billion), in response to Reuters calculations, in the midst of an April forecast vary of $15.2 billion to $16 billion, in comparison with $18.16 billion for the year-ago interval.
($1 = 30.9600 Taiwan {dollars})
(Reporting by Religion Hung and Ben Blanchard; Modifying by Shri Navaratnam)