TAIPEI (Reuters) -Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC posted an 80% surge in third-quarter net profit on Thursday, boosted by strong sales of its advanced chips used in data centres and electric cars, despite a slowdown in the global chip industry due to economic headwinds.
This is the company’s strongest quarterly net profit growth in two years.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker and a major Apple Inc supplier, said net profit for the July-September period rose to T$280.9 billion ($8.81 billion) from T$156.3 billion a year earlier.
That compared with the T$265.64 billion average of 21 analyst estimates compiled by Refinitiv.
TSMC’s business has been boosted by a global chip shortage that was sparked by pandemic-fuelled sales of smartphones and laptops. While the shortage has eased, analysts say the company’s dominance in making some of the world’s most advanced chips has kept its order book full.
Revenue for the quarter climbed 36% to $20.23 billion, versus TSMC’s prior estimated range of $19.8 billion to $20.6 billion.
Shares in TSMC have fallen almost 36% so far this year, giving it a market value of $323.7 billion. The stock fell 0.6% on Thursday, compared with a 2.1% fall for the benchmark index.
($1 = 31.8870 Taiwan dollars)
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard and Sarah Wu; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Edmund Klamann)
