TSMC "forecast on Global Chip Sales to Increase 22% in 2010"

Top contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) said it expects global sales of semiconductors to rise 22 percent this year and 7 percent next amid a recovery from last year's slump.


The forecast was given by Chairman Morris Chang at a company technology symposium held in the U.S. on April 13. Details of the speech were given to reporters in Taipei in a teleconference with company spokesman J.H. Tzeng on Wednesday.

Chang said the growth outlook for the semiconductor market this year and next year was healthy, while annual growth would slow to 4.2 percent in 2011-2014, partly as other new key components such as touch-screen panels are used in electronics products.

His forecast for this year is largely in line with market expectations.

Global semiconductor revenue in 2010 is set to reach $279.7 billion, up 21.5 percent from 2009, according to research firm iSuppli Corp. Gartner forecast worldwide semiconductor revenue growth at 20 percent this year.

TSMC, which counts Texas Instruments [TXN 26.90 1.03 (+3.98%) ] and Nvidia [NVDA 17.88 0.22 (+1.25%) ] among its clients, reported unconsolidated sales of T$30.82 billion ($975 million) for last month, more than double a year earlier and up 5.6 percent from February.

TSMC and No.2 chip foundry United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) have said they would boost capital spending significantly this year to tap demand for new computers, cellphones and flat-screen TVs that require more powerful microchips.

But analysts say a wider customer base and early adoption of more advanced technology would help TSMC yield higher profit margins than UMC and other smaller rivals in coming months.

In a separate statement released by TSMC on Wednesday, the company said it would start using more advanced 20-nanometre process chip production technology in the second half of 2012.

Sales of microchips made by 65-nanometre technology, or 65 billionths of a meter, accounted for 30 percent of TSMC's total sales in the fourth quarter of 2009, while 9 percent of its sales came from advanced 40-nano technology in the same quarter.

The smaller circuitry allows for more powerful chip designs. Squeezing more circuits onto a single chip also increases chip yield per wafer, boosting

Source : Reuter