TSMC Had Q4 Revenues of $4.5bn for a Profit of $1.4bn

TSMC had Q4 revenues of $4.5bn for a profit of $1.4bn. Revenue was 25% up on Qa2011 and profit was up 32% on Q4 2011.

Compared to Q32012, Q4 was a 7.1% decrease in revenue and a 15.7% decrease in profit.

Gross margin for the quarter was 47.2%, operating margin was 35.2%, and net margin was 31.7%.

Shipments of 28nm parts reached 22% of total wafer revenues. 40nm accounted for 22% of total wafer revenues, and 65nm was 19%. These advanced technologies accounted for 63% of total wafer revenues.

“In the fourth quarter, demand for our products was higher than we expected three months ago, resulting in above-guidance revenue and profit margins,” says Lora Ho, SVP and Chief Financial Officer of TSMC, “we now expect the supply chain inventory DOI to decline only slightly in the first quarter, and our revenue will also decline only slightly in the first quarter from the previous quarter. Based on our current business outlook and exchange rate assumption of 1 US dollar to 28.90 NT dollars, management expects overall performance for first quarter 2013 to be as follows”:

For Q1 2013, revenue is expected to be between $4.38bn and $4.45bn.  Gross profit margin is expected to be between 43.5% and 45.5%. Operating profit margin is expected to be between 31.5% and 33.5%.

TSMC further expects the capital expenditures for 2013 to be about US$9 billion.