Taiwanese chip manufacturer TSMC (NYSE:TSM) disclosed its fourth-quarter financial results on Wednesday, reporting revenue that remained largely flat but surpassed both the company’s and market expectations.
As the world’s largest contract chipmaker catering to clients such as Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), TSMC has thrived amid a surge in demand for artificial intelligence applications, compensating for the gradual decline in pandemic-driven demand.
For the last quarter of the previous year, revenue reached T$625.5 billion ($20.10 billion), based on Reuters calculations, exceeding the $19.93 billion recorded in the same period the previous year. This performance outperformed TSMC’s initial forecast, which projected fourth-quarter revenue to fall within the range of $18.8-19.6 billion. Additionally, it surpassed the LSEG SmartEstimate of T$617.1 billion, derived from 21 analysts. SmartEstimates, giving more weight to consistently accurate forecasts, further underscored TSMC’s robust performance.
In December alone, TSMC reported a year-on-year revenue decrease of 8.4%, amounting to T$176.3 billion—a 14.4% drop compared to the previous month.
TSMC, holding the title of Asia’s most valuable publicly listed company with a market capitalization of $491 billion, refrained from providing specific details or forward guidance in its concise revenue statement. The company is scheduled to release its fourth-quarter earnings on Jan. 18, accompanied by updates on the outlook for the current quarter and the entire year.
Despite the lack of forward guidance, TSMC’s Taipei-listed shares experienced a 0.3% decline on the day of the revenue statement release. The broader market (.TWII) also ended down 0.4%. Notably, TSMC’s shares demonstrated resilience throughout 2023, surging by 32%, outperforming the broader market, which posted a 27% gain during the same period.
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