Chip firm Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) said it plans to spend at least a third more than last year in order to meet booming semiconductor demand.
The company said it expects to lift capital spending to between $40 billion and $44 billion this year. Last year it spent $30 billion.
Taiwan-based TSMC is a major supplier to Apple, Qualcomm, etc. TSMC posted 16.4 percent rise in fourth-quarter profit.
TSMC announced in 2021 a $100 billion expansion plan over the next few years, as new technologies such as 5G technology and artificial intelligence applications also drive chip demand.
“With fully-loaded foundry capacity, TSMC’s near-term order outlook remains healthy,” analysts at Taipei-based Fubon Research wrote in a note in early January.
TSMC raised its compound annual growth rate targets for revenue over the next several years to 15 percent-20 percent from 10 percent-15 percent.
TSMC CEO CC Wei shrugged off market concerns about chip oversupply in the coming years and said a substantial increase of “silicon content” in tech gadgets such as electric cars would help TSMC weather market corrections.
The company set a long-term target of “53 percent and higher” for its gross margins, up from a previous target of “50 percent and higher”.
TSMC forecast first-quarter revenue to be in the range of $16.6 billion to $17.2 billion, compared with $12.92 billion in the same period a year earlier. For the year, it expects to grow in the mid -to-high 20 percent range in U.S. dollar terms.
In the October-December quarter, revenue climbed 24.1 percent to $15.74 billion. Net profit rose to T$166.2 billion ($6.01 billion) from T$142.8 billion a year earlier.
