Semiconductor shortage to begin to ease this quarter, says TSMC
The world’s largest semiconductor firm today suggested there could be a chink of light for embattled carmakers, which have been hamstrung by a shortage of the chips.
Speaking to analysts after it revealed record quarterly sales, Taiwan’s TSMC said that the current supply crisis would gradually begin to ease from this quarter.
However, auto giants are not yet out of the woods, with the overall supply tightness expected to last into next year.
Despite this, the announcement will come as a relief for carmakers, which have been forced to shutter factories and curb production due to the lack of chips.
The dearth of supply has proved a boon to TSMC, however, which posted revenue of $13.3bn for the quarter, up 28 per cent.
And it forecast that revenue for September quarter would come in between $14.6bn and $14.9bn, compared with $12.1bn in the same period a year earlier.
“Our second-quarter business was mainly driven by continued strength in high performance computing (HPC) and automotive-related demand,” said finance chief Wendell Huang.
“Moving into the third quarter, we expect our business to be supported by strong demand for our industry-leading 5 nanometre and 7 nanometre technologies, driven by all four growth platforms, which are smartphone, HPC, IoT and automotive-related applications.”