Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg. Co. Ltd., (TSM) the world's biggest contract chipmaker and a lead supplier for Apple Inc. (AAPL) iPhones, posted its biggest quarterly profit jump in two years and said it was "highly confident" heading into the second half of the year.
TSMC said earnings for the three months ending in June surged 76.4% from last year to just under $8 billion, with revenues rose 36.6% to $18.16 billion. The industry bellwether said third quarter sales could come in between $19.8 billion and $20.6 billion, powered by sales of 5G and artificial intelligence chips amid what CEO C. C. Wei described as "firm" global demand.
“Our second quarter business was supported by HPC, IoT and Automotive-related demand,” said CFO Wendell Huang. “Moving into third quarter 2022, we expect our business to be supported by continued demand for our industry-leading 5nm and 7nm technologies."
TSMC's U.S.-listed shares were marked 2.5% higher in early afternoon trading Thursday, against a 0.5% decline for the Nasdaq, to change hands at $83.35 each.
Earlier this month, Samsung Electronics and key rival to Apple in the smartphone market, forecast its strongest quarterly profit in four years, adding some much-needed confidence for the chip and smartphone sectors, each of which has suffered from supply-chain disruptions and demand erosion as a result of faster consumer price inflation.
However, both outlooks contrast sharply with that of U.S.-based chipmaker Micron Technology (MU), which cautioned earlier this month that weakness in consumer markets, particularly computers and smartphones, would clip earnings growth over the coming months.
That could intensify efforts from lawmakers in Congress to accelerate a bill, aimed at boosting U.S. competitiveness with China, over the coming weeks.
The House version of a Senate bill passed in 2021 would also, in part, provide around $52 billion in subsidies for U.S. chipmakers in order to help increase production and ween the industry from its reliance on Asia-made products.
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said Wednesday that Congress could "carve out" the $52 billion aimed at the chip sector from the larger competitiveness bill and hopefully get the slimmed-down version passed before the August 4 recess.
Last month, CEOs from some of the biggest and most influential American companies reiterated their plea to Congress for help in boosting the competitiveness of domestic firms against their rivals in China as part of a lobbying effort by the Semiconductor Industry Association.
"The competitiveness legislation pending in Congress is critical to the U.S. economy, national security, and supply chain resilience," said portions of a letter signed by CEOs of Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN) and Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL), as well as more than 100 other corporate bosses.
"The rest of the world is not waiting for the U.S. to act. Our global competitors are investing in their industry, their workers, and their economies, and it is imperative that Congress act to enhance U.S. competitiveness."
