Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. said on Oct. 30 its net profit in the three months to September rose 6.3% from the previous quarter due to the increased demand for various chip applications. TSMC, the world's leading contract microchip maker, said that its net profit in the third quarter came in at 30.57 billion Taiwan dollars (US$929.46 million), up 0.7% year-on-year.
The company's third-quarter sales stood at 92.98 billion Taiwan dollars, up 4.5% from 88.96 billion a year earlier, or up 5.5% from 88.13 billion seen in the previous quarter.
"The global economic slowdown has posed challenges to TSMC's business, although we expect to continue to stay profitable," chief financial officer Lora Ho said.
TSMC said its consolidated revenue in the fourth quarter would be around 69 billion to 71 billion Taiwan dollars.
Chief executive Rick Tsai said the company expected a mid-to-high single-digit percentage drop in the global chip industry's revenue in 2009 and added that the company would slash its capital spending next year.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2008
