At the recent conference, the management of the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) expects the company to earn up to $15.7 billion in revenue in its ongoing quarter. The executives of TSMC also shared details about the company’s expected financial performance for the fourth quarter and gave a full calendar year of 2021.
We also got the estimates for the mass production of the company’s next-generation 2-nanometer semiconductor manufacturing process and the figures which the management has put forth show us how the financial community is divided on the nature of the ongoing semiconductor supply chain shortage. But the question remains as to whether TSMC can sustain an aggressive revenue growth as the year ends amidst the ongoing supply crisis?
In an online conference, TSMC’s chief executive officer Dr.C.C. Wei clarified that the high demand for semiconductor products used in the rollout and operation of fifth-generation (5G) cellular technologies and high-performance computing (HPC) products used for performance-intensive computing applications is still and will continue to constrain TSMC’s production capacity.
Dr. Wei also remains confident that TSMC’s 2nm technology will enter into mass production in 2025 and he is optimistic about the new process, outlining that when it is launched, it will lead the industry in terms of transistor density and power efficiency.
The sudden questions related to TSMC’s profitability started making rounds only after the investment bank Morgan Stanley posited in June that the company might not be able to sustain a 50% gross margin. The reason cited was due to the rising costs and an expected end to the chip shortage by the end of this year.
However, despite these reports, the company remains positive about its performance and estimates that in Q4, it will earn revenue ranging between $15.5 billion to $15.7 billion at an exchange rate of NT$28 to one U.S. dollar.
