14 DAY TRIAL // It appears that tablets have started to show up as the culprit behind a whole bunch of happenings, both good and bad, on the IT market, in this case related to the finances of a certain worldwide foundry.
Like any product that rose in popularity fast, tablets have become a very disruptive presence on today's IT market.
While they have been causing sales of netbooks and laptops overall to drop, it also appears as though too many of them are getting launched.
Still, it seems that companies actively involved in their promotion, or indirectly responsible for their existence, are definitely making a profit (or are about to).
TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) is now revealed to be among those that will see a nice bonus to revenues.
While TSMC did have its share of manufacturing problems last year, especially with its 40nm process, it has preserved its role as primary chip maker, so, naturally, it will have quite the stake in the tablet semiconductor market.
More specifically, it will get more orders for chips from the tablet business which, along with those received from smarpthone makers, will lead to sales of US$900 million to US$1 billion for the year 2011.
The company does expect revenues to decrease, overall, during the ongoing second quarter of the year (by 5%), but this doesn't mean it won't make up for it in the second half of the year.
The report also says that it is the belief of the company;s Chairman and CEO Morris Chang that consumers will come to look at smartphones and slates as the standard consumer electronics for the next decade.
Considering the ever more emphasized tendency towards mobility, this is probably a pertinent assumption, although it is clear that notebooks won't really disappear any time soon.
As for what TSMC expects its finances to look like in 2012, the foundry foresees a possible twofold jump compared to the $1 billion of this year.