Apple Supplier TSMC Reports First Monthly Revenue Drop Since 2019

Summary:

  • TSMC on Monday reported its first decline in monthly revenue since May 2019.
  • The company saw its sales fall 15% year-over-year in March.
  • TSMC’s first-quarter revenue was up 3.6% from last year, but the company fell short of analyst estimates.

Apple supplier TSMC on Monday reported its financial results for the first quarter of the year, posting its first decline in monthly revenue in almost four years — reports Bloomberg.

March saw TSMC’s sales drop 15% year-over-year, from NT$171.97 billion last year to NT$145.41 ($4.78 billion USD) this year, marking the first time the company’s revenue has fallen since May 2019.

For the quarter as a whole, TSMC reported revenues of NT$508.6 billion ($16.7 billion USD). The world’s largest chipmaker saw quarterly revenue grow by 3.6% as compared to Q1 2022, but the company fell short of average analyst estimates of NT$525.5 billion ($17.2 billion USD) in revenue.

This was the second consecutive quarter where TSMC missed analyst estimates. What’s more, the company was right on the edge of its own first-quarter revenue guidance of $16.7-17.5 billion USD, down from $19.93 billion USD in the December 2022 quarter.

Back in January, TSMC executives said the company expects to see revenue in the first half of this year slide by a mid-to-high single-digit percentage in U.S.-dollar terms. At the same time, the execs said that TSMC expects sales to pick up in the second half.

TSMC and other tech giants are starting to see a dip in sales as the boom in demand for computers, smartphones, and more from the COVID-19 pandemic bottoms out. What’s more, climbing interest rates and rising inflation are further weakening demand for consumer electronics.

A major chunk of the chips TSMC produces go into smartphones, and 2022 was the worst year for the global smartphone market since 2013, with shipments dropping 11.3% in the year.

Apple, one of TSMC’s largest customers, came out of 2022 with iPhone sales only narrowly impacted. However, shipments of Apple’s Macs, all of which are powered by TSMC-made chips, dropped a whopping 40.5% year-over-year in Q1 2023, while PC shipments as a whole plunged 29% during the period.

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