14 DAY TRIAL // It seems that TSMC has already started to think about how it will fare during the next three-month period, which happens to be the first quarter of 2011, and it expects to do better than it did in the past.
With all the issues plaguing the NAND and DRAM industries, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company may not have fared as well as it may have hopes during the past quarter.
For those in need of a reminder, NAND and DRAM prices have been falling because of oversupply.
Still, it appears that TSMC expects that the next three-month period will prove quite fruitful, even though it will still come with a sequential drop in sales of up to 5%.
As some may know, the first months of any year are generally slower overall, since the end-user base is recovering from the shopping during the holidays.
Still, company chairman and CEO Morris Chang says that the performance in Q1, 2011 is expected to surpass the historical seasonal pattern.
In fact, the aforementioned drop of 5% may not occur at all, TSMC believing it possible to yield a flat growth overall.
Consolidated revenues, for those interested in numbers, will be at NT$107-109 billion for the ongoing fourth quarter.
This is lower than the record US$112.25 billion of Q3, and while tan official guidance for Q1, 2011 has yet to be given, it can be assumed that it won't be far from these two sums.
Regardless, the overall foundry industry is still expected to grow by 14% next year, so TSMC, naturally, expects to grow along with it, being one of, if not its major representatives.
Qualcomm's orders will be a key contributor to TSMC's strong first quarter if they increase, something that may just happen considering that its chips are supposed to end up in next-generation iPads and iPhones.