What you need to know
- TSMC produces the A-series and M-series chips that power iPhones, iPads, and Macs.
- The Taiwanese chip company has posted record quarterly profits.
- Expectations are high that TSMC will benefit from huge chip demand in the next few years.
TSMC, the company that produces Apple's A-series and M-series chips for iPhones, iPads, and Macs, has posted record profits for the most recent quarter as well as impressive growth. The company also touted plans to pump huge sums of money back into its business.
Following the news that TSMC posted record quarterly profits the company said that it intends to spend at least a third more this year than it did last — last year saw the company spend $30 billion according to a Reuters report.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC) , a major Apple Inc (AAPL.O) supplier that also has customers such as Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O), posted a 16.4% rise in fourth-quarter profit.The company said it expects to lift capital spending to between $40 billion and $44 billion this year. Last year it spent $30 billion.
The company also raised its targets for the coming years, citing a "multi-year megatrend."
With what it calls a "multi-year industry megatrend" of strong chip demand boosted by new technologies, TSMC raised its compound annual growth rate targets for revenue over the next several years to 15%-20% from 10%-15%.
TSMC, like Foxconn, sees its fortunes very much linked to Apple's. Apple has some big releases in the works including the rumored Apple Glass mixed reality headset and infamous Apple Car project. It seems very likely that both projects will involve TSMC, while the iPhone, iPad, and Mac chip production will no doubt prove lucrative for the chipmaker as well.
Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.
Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.
