TSMC held its financial conference this weekend before publishing a press release announcing very good results for this fourth and final quarter of 2020.
TSMC is one of Apple's main subcontractors and the company's good figures are largely explained by the success of the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro at the end of the year. The firm announced consolidated revenue of $12.68 billion for this quarter, an increase of 22% compared to the same period last year.
The company that is behind the majority of Apple's 5nm chips has seen its order book grow in recent months.Today, one in five chips produced by TSMC uses 5nm technology. Wendell Huang, vice president and CFO of TSMC explains:“Our fourth quarter business was supported by strong demand for our industry-leading 5-nanometer technology, driven by 5G smartphone launches (iPhone 12). »
A TSMC factory in the United States?
According to information from Bloomberg, which was present at the financial conference, the company plans to invest $28 billion during this year 2021. It was also mentioned that TSMC would come and build a factory in the United States, more precisely in Arizona, in order to serve customers from Uncle Sam's country more quickly.
An investment that showsthe new ambitions of TSMCwho clearly sees that there is a place to be taken in the field of semiconductors. The main market leader, Intel, is in the middle of a crisis and has just appointed a new CEO in order to save the ship.
This appointment could coincide with TSMC's desire to take an even further lead in chip production. The historic American company could indeed place an order in the coming months with TSMC to subcontract the production of its processors. This would be a great first for Intel, and an admission of weakness for the American company which has always wanted to produce its parts itself.
A record year 2020
If the health crisis shut down many businesses in 2020,TSMC, for its part, had one of its best years. The Taiwanese firm actually saw its share price jump by more than 70% during the year. A dynamic which should not be reversed in the coming months. TSMC continues to maintain a considerable lead over its main competitors and with customers like Apple and Intel (nothing official has been signed with Intel yet, but it could happen quite quickly) TSMC has every chance to take even more share in this booming market.
