Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world's leading contract microchip maker, on Oct. 27 reported that its third- quarter profit tumbled 35.2 percent, the sharpest drop in two and a half years.
Net profit for the three months to September was Tw$30.4 billion (US$1.01 billion), with the latest profit figure also down 15.2% from the second quarter, the company said.
The decline was the chipmaker's biggest quarterly drop since net profit plunged 94.5% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2009 as the global economic slump hit demand for microchips.
The company also announced that it cut this year's budget for expansion by $100 million to $7.3 billion, weighed by a slowdown in demand from major markets in the United States and Europe.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2011
