TAIPEI, Jan 9- TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, reported on Friday fourth-quarter revenue rose 20.45% from a year earlier, beating the market forecast, as demand for the company’s products leapt on surging interest in artificial intelligence applications.
Revenue for the October-December period was T$1,046.08 billion ($33.04 billion), according to Reuters calculations based on monthly data the company released, compared with T$868.46 billion in the year-ago period.
The latest result handily topped a LSEG SmartEstimate of T$1,035.913 billion ($32.72 billion) drawn from 20 analysts, and was in line with guidance of $32.2 billion to $33.4 billion issued by TSMC in October in its last earnings call. TSMC only gives guidance in U.S. dollars.TSMC
(2330.TW), opens new tab will report full fourth-quarter earnings on January 15, including an updated outlook for the current quarter and full year.The company, whose customers include Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab and Apple
(AAPL.O), opens new tab, has been a major beneficiary of advances in AI, which has more than offset the tapering off of pandemic-led demand for chips used in consumer electronics like tablets.
TSMC’s Taipei-listed shares gained 44.2% last year, outperforming the 25.7% rise for the broader market (.TWII), opens new tab.Taiwan’s Foxconn (2317.TW), opens new tab, the world’s largest contract electronics maker and Nvidia’s biggest server maker, also reported bumper sales on Monday, logging T$2.6028 trillion ($82.20 billion) for the fourth quarter.
($1 = 31.6640 Taiwan dollars)
Source: Geopolitical Research Society/Special Correspondent