Net income fell 1.3% year on year to 75.33 billion New Taiwan dollars ($2.34 billion), on revenue of NT$212.5 billion, up 3.5% quarter on quarter and 1.7% year on year.
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In addition, TSMC has adjusted downward its capex target for 2015 to US$8 billion from the previously-set US$10.5-11 billion – a more than 20% cut. Global market revenue for smartphones will climb 10 percent this year while that for PCs will drop 6 percent, he said. Liu said the firm expects to see the global smartphone market expand by 10 percent this year, but forecasts no growth in the semiconductor industry because of a large build-up in inventories.
Ho cited efficiency gains, adjustments in capital deployment and changes to foreign-exchange rates for lowering the spending plan.
The manufacturer of chips for Apple also expected global foundry growth to decline by 5% this year, compared with its earlier forecast of 6% growth, due to a weaker global economy, an unexpected slowdown in the China economy since the first quarter and excess fabless inventories, TSMC president and co-CEO Mark Liu said at a meeting with investors.
Due to the termination of TSMC Solar operation in third quarter, TSMC incurred a loss of TWD 2.8 billion, which negatively impacted operating profit margin by about 1.3 percentage points and EPS by about TWD 0.08.
The street had expected NT$211.9 billion in sales.
The brokerage said that the company’s earnings per share, meanwhile, could rise to NT$11.72 and NT$13.48 in 2016 and 2017, respectively, from an estimated NT$11.66 for 2015.
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The company said in a financial statement that while revenues in its third quarter were essentially flat compared to the previous quarter, revenues were 4.3 percent down compared to the same quarter in 2015.
