TSMC expects 'healthy growth year' as Q3 profit beats expectations
By Sarah Wu and Yimou Lee
TAIPEI (Reuters) — Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC posted a 25% fall in third quarter net profit on Thursday, beating expectations, and said the semiconductor industry could be poised for recovery.
For the year ahead, the world's largest contract chipmaker predicted healthy growth and a drop in industry inventory levels.
Demand for personal computers and smartphones, two of TSMC's business drivers, is expected to lead the recovery, with artificial intelligence (AI) growth also increasing demand for its advanced chips and advanced packaging.
«We can expect 2024 to be a healthy growth year for TSMC,» CEO C.C. Wei told an earnings briefing, with the company expecting to «do better than the overall industry» next year.
«In these couple of months, we have started to see demand stabilise in the PC and smartphone end market» and inventory controls have become «more healthy than we thought».
«Right now, do we see the bottom? Very close,» Wei said, but added it was too soon to say how strong the recovery would be as customers remain cautious because of macro weakness and China's slow economic recovery.
Investors have watched for signs to gauge the strength of any recovery, as TSMC's tool supplier ASML warned of flat 2024 sales on Wednesday, citing caution by chipmakers in new investment.
Given lingering uncertainty, TSMC said it has «appropriately tightened» its capital spending for this year to about $32 billion. Capital spending for the three months to September slid 13% from the previous quarter to $7.1 billion.
RIVAL SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS
The forecast-beating third quarter results from the tech bellwether follow better than expected quarterly profit from rival Samsung Electronics (KS:005930) earlier this
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