TSMC's Q3 revenue surpasses Samsung to become the global semiconductor leader

Recently, according to South Korean media BusinessKorea, TSMC's revenue in the last quarter surged 48% compared with the same period last year, reaching NT$613.1 billion (about 27.5 trillion won). Samsung Electronics did not announce the performance of its semiconductor business when it announced the preliminary valuation of the last quarter's financial report last week.

For a long time in the past, Samsung and Intel have been competing for the throne of the global semiconductor revenue brother. The former's flagship product is memory chips, and the latter is mainly focused on personal computer (PC) central processing units (CPUs). However, due to weak demand from downstream industries (such as PCs and smartphones), which had a severe impact on the performance of Samsung and Intel, TSMC's foundry industry demand remained strong, leading the company to overtake Samsung and Intel.

According to TSMC's recently released September financial report, its operating income exceeded NT$200 billion (US$6.3 billion). Operating income in the third quarter was NT$613.14 billion, a quarter-on-quarter increase of 14.8%, a record high; as of September, TSMC’s cumulative revenue this year rose 42.6% from the same period last year to NT$1.64 trillion.

According to the latest data from SIA, global semiconductor sales rose 0.1% year-on-year, but fell 3.4% month-on-month to $47.4 billion in August. SIA President and CEO John Neuffer said August sales fell by the largest percentage since February 2019 as global semiconductor sales growth has stagnated in recent months.

Facing the current sluggish market conditions, UBS Securities said that the capacity utilization rate of TSMC's 7nm process in the first half of next year may only be 70%, while the overall capacity utilization rate may fall between 85% and 89%, which is lower than previously expected. Ninety percent or more.

Although TSMC has achieved historically good results in terms of performance at present, there is still great uncertainty in the next semiconductor market. According to Taiwanese media "Electronic Times", industry forecasts suggest that TSMC will be conservative in its business prospects for the fourth quarter of this year and the first half of next year.