The Taiwanese manufacturer reported huge profits thanks to the global shortage of chips

Tram Ho

When the “chip” flaw is released, upstream and downstream of the industry chain also began to look for new growth cycle. Some companies spend tens of billions of dollars to expand production, others re-export on a risky path by developing chips and some take advantage of this trend to separate the chip segment from business. general.

Nhà sản xuất Đài Loan báo lãi khủng nhờ tình trạng khan hiếm chip toàn cầu - Ảnh 1.

On April 15, TSMC’s FY2021 quarterly financial report showed quarterly revenue of $ 12.919 billion, up 16.7 percent year-on-year and net profit of 4,981 billion. USD, up 19.4%. “We believe that chip demand will continue to increase and the shortage may even last until 2022,” said TSMC CEO Wei ZheJia.

However, despite the unexpected growth, the secondary market seemed unprofitable. The US stock market opened on April 15, and TSMC’s share price fell slightly by 3%, with a total market value of $ 628 billion. The data clearly shows that since the beginning of this year, TSMC’s stock price trend has been relatively volatile, with reported highs of $ 141.8 and lowest of $ 107.9, with a amplitude of 31, 24%.

Looking back over the past year, TSMC not only experienced the dilemma of cutting Huawei’s supply, but also became a competitive target for the tech giants in the wave of global chip shortages. Every step of TSMC transmits danger signals of the semiconductor industry chain in the present context.

Since the end of 2020, the chip shortage crisis that led carmakers to stop production has spread to the entire consumer electronics industry, and orders for chip foundries have been full. TSMC accounts for more than half of the global advanced process foundry’s market share, and operations have exploded over the past year.

For the whole year 2020, TSMC’s total revenue reached NT $ 1.33 trillion ($ 46.75 billion), an increase of 25.2% year-on-year, a record high. In the fourth quarter, thanks to 5G mobile phones and high-performance computers, quarterly revenue exceeded $ 12,676 billion, up 22% year-on-year; net profit was 5,008 billion, up 23% year-on-year.

From a process revenue structure perspective, in the fourth quarter TSMC’s wafer (semiconductor) sales, 5nm process shipments, 20%, 7nm process shipments 29% and 16nm process shipments 13%. These three revenue from this innovative process accounted for 62% of the quarterly sales.

Quarterly, 7nm process has the highest proportion of revenue. According to TSMC’s financial statements, the revenue for the third quarter of 2020 is 12.14 billion USD and the 5nm process contributes 8%, equivalent to 970 million USD. In Q4, 5nm contributed $ 2.535 billion, up 161.3% year-on-year. This not only means that downstream customers have a strong demand for TSMC’s cutting-edge technology, but also reflects that the chip industry’s upstream and downstream iteration cycle has unfolded.

In early 2021, chip production capacity was limited. TSMC reached NT $ 362.41 billion (US $ 12.7 billion) in the first quarter of 2021, up 16.7% over the same period last year; net profit was NT $ 139.69 billion (about US $ 5 billion), up 19.4% year on year; gross profit was NT $ 189,839 billion (US $ 6.7 billion), up 18.1% year on year.

From a process revenue structure perspective, the 7nm process accounted for 35% of sales in the first quarter of 2021; 5nm process accounts for 14% and 16nm process accounts 14%. The three advanced processes account for 63% of total wafer sales. Compared to the previous quarter, the premium standard wafer remains the key to TSMC’s stable and sustainable cash flow.

From the perspective of changes in platform revenue structure, in the whole 2020, businesses using mobile phones and HPC as main terminals outside of cars achieved positive growth. This year, TSMC’s revenue structure basically follows the growth logic led by mobile phone, HPC, and IoT.

In the first quarter of 2021, along with changing market customer demand, TSMC’s production capacity for different business sectors has adjusted significantly. According to financial report data, TSMC’s revenue from manufacturing mobile phone chips dropped -11%, while revenue from manufacturing car chips increased 31%.

TSMC said chip shortages for auto customers began to ease in the next quarter. What really worries the market is that the trend of shortages of mobile phones and other businesses is taking shape. Faced with the turmoil of upstream and downstream industrial chains, the global chip-casting giant has become a hotly competitive target, which also brings in a lot of revenue.

TSMC expects sales in the second quarter of this year to reach $ 13.2 billion, higher than the average forecast by analysts of $ 12.8 billion. In USD terms, sales for the whole year could increase by 20%. Analysts predict the main drivers of growth will come from orders for high-speed server and automotive chips, while weaker performance of consumer electronics chips. use.

Since last year, there have been numerous accidents at the TSMC plant, such as a snowstorm in Texas and interruptions at the Japanese factory. Due to the cyclical nature of the chip industry and the continuous 24-hour rotation of the production lines of semiconductor manufacturers, any manufacturing problems exacerbate industry concerns.

On April 14, TSMC’s Nanke Wafer plant 14B-P7 lost power in less than 5 hours, 30,000 wafers were affected and damage amounted to NT $ 1 billion. Analysts say that due to a lack of capacity to manufacture car electronics chips, deliveries of new vehicles to its global customers have been delayed.

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Source : Genk