Taiwan-based semiconductor foundry TSMC on Thursday announced $10.3 billion in revenue in the first quarter, a 45% increase from the same quarter in 2019 but down 1% from fourth quarter 2019.
Chief Financial Officer Wendell Huang said TSMC saw an increase in high performance computing demand and a continued ramp-up in 5G smartphones.
The strong performance at TSMC comes despite warnings by many electronics companies that COVID-19 will lower demand or supply of their products. Some are refusing to offer guidance because of the unpredictable nature of the virus on economies. However, there are exceptions, as Dutch lithography producer ASML Holding reported strong demand in an earnings call on Wednesday but still withheld guidance for all of 2020.
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TSMC did offer guidance, and expects revenues in the second quarter to be flat, with weaker mobile product demand but continued 5G deployment and HPC product launches. Revenue guidance for second quarter is expected to be between $10.1 billion and $10.4 billion.
TSMC got more than half its revenues (56%) in the quarter from customers in North America, including electronics maker Apple. Revenue from China was 22%, and from Japan was 5%.
About one-third of revenues came from the 7nm process technology at TSMC, while 16nm accounted for 19% and 10nm was just 0.5%. Smartphone revenue was 49% of the total, HPC was 30%, and IoT, Automotive were 9% and 4% respectively.
TSMC collaborated with global semi leaders in recent months, including STMicroelectronics, the eight largest semi maker globally and the largest in Europe. The two companies are working to accelerate market adopt of Gallium Nitride-based products.
Also, TSMC collaborated with Broadcom, the fourth largest semi maker, on the world’s first 2X reticle size interposer by enhancing the chip on wafer on substrate (CoWoS) platform. An interposer is an electrical interface routing between one socket to another.
TSMC, founded in 1987, is the world’s largest dedicated semiconductor foundry. It is headquartered in Hsinchu, Taiwan and has about 49,000 employees.
TSMC stock was up nearly 6% on the New York Stock Exchange mid-day Thursday, reaching $52.55.