Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co went down 4.6% in Thursday mid-morning trade after KGI Securities analyst Michael Liu said in a note that TSMC would be supplanted by Samsung in the production of 14-nanometre smartphone chips for Apple and Qualcomm beginning in the second half of 2015 - AFP Photo.
TAIPEI: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd, the world's largest contract chipmaker, revised its full-year revenue target to the low end of its earlier forecast due to softer demand for smartphones and uncertainty in the cryptocurrency market.
Revenue for 2018 is expected to grow 10 percent compared with an earlier forecast of 10-15 percent, Co-Chief Executive C.C. Wei told an earnings briefing.
TSMC, whose clients include Apple Inc, Qualcomm Inc and Nvidia Corp, reported a 2.5 percent rise in net profit for January-March at T$89.8 billion ($3.1 billion) - in line with market estimates. The result was a record high for the first-quarter.
Analysts said second-quarter risks for TSMC include an intensifying trade war between the United States and China, where many of its biggest clients are located.
In addition, demand for cryptocurrency-related chips is slowing due to increased regulatory scrutiny of the sector.
TSMC president Mark Liu said he expected minimal impact from a U.S. ban on American companies selling parts to China's ZTE Corp, a maker of telecommunications equipment and smartphones.
TSMC sees second-quarter revenue in a range of $7.8 billion to $7.9 billion, 10.5 to 12 percent higher than a year earlier.
Prior to the earnings announcement, shares in TSMC closed up 2.7 percent, versus a 1 percent rise in the wider market . The stock has risen around 6 percent so far this year.
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