- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (NYSE:TSM) expects shipments of upmarket smartphones to decline this year but that could be offset by cryptocurrency mining growth.
- "Upmarket smartphones” means Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhones since TSMC supplies all of the core processors for the phones.
- Co-CEO C.C. Wei says, “Mid-to-low-end smartphones will increase by several percentage points. For TSMC, overall wafer revenue for mobile phones will be flat compared with 2017.”
- The mobile segment brought in about half of TSMC’s $33B in total revenue last year.
- TSMC still expects revenue to grow 10% to 15% in 2018 (in U.S. dollar terms) compared to the 9% sales growth in 2017. The March quarter guidance has revenue from $8.4B to $8.5B, a 12% year-over-year increase.
- The optimism comes from the recent emergence of cryptocurrency company Bitmain as a major TSMC customer. Bitmain accounted for 3% to 5% of TSMC’s Q3 revenue, which puts it at the same contribution level as Nvidia.
- TSMC revenue from crypto mining came in between $350M and $400M in the July to September period.
- TSMC shares are up 3.7%.
- Previously: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing higher 1.58% on profit and sales beat (Jan. 18)
- Now read: Multiple Implications Of Apple's Move Back Toward The U.S.
Original article