TSMC has reduced its revenue growth forecast for 2018 to 10 percent, down from the 10-15 percent previously estimated, mainly due to lower demand for smartphones and the uncertainty created by the mining of cryptocurrency in recent weeks.
TSMC cuts its growth expectations for 2018
TSMC co-CEO CC Wei said the company’s revenue is likely to grow by 10 percent annually in the second quarter of 2018, a figure lower than expected and driven by a demand for smartphones that remains subdued. The company’s revenues for the first quarter of 2018 fell 10.6 percent versus the same period last year.
The team believes that during the second quarter, revenues will fall 7-8 percent sequentially with gross margin falling below 50 percent. In addition to a lower demand for smartphones, a lack of sustainability in the demand for crypto mining has also contributed, with Bitmain Technologies and Canaan Creative reported to be among TSMC’s largest cryptographic mining customers.
Wei said TSMC’s 7nm manufacturing process technology is an industry leader in terms of performance, power and area density, as well as its timeline. The smelter expects sales generated by this node to represent more than 20 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018, and 10 percent for the full year.
Wei reiterated that TSMC will have more than 50 customers, with its 7nm process technology by the end of 2018, the node is already in volume production.