TAIPEI (Reuters) -Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC posted a 19% drop in fourth-quarter net profit on Thursday as global economic woes hit demand for chips used in applications from cars to cellphones and servers, but still beat market forecasts.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker and a major Apple Inc and Nvidia supplier, saw October-December net profit drop to T$238.7 billion ($7.6 billion) from a particularly strong T$295.9 billion a year earlier.
The profit beat a T$226.4 billion LSEG SmartEstimate, which is weighted toward forecasts from analysts who are more consistently accurate.
TSMC, Asia’s most valuable listed company, said fourth-quarter revenue slipped 1.5% year-on-year to $19.62 billion, in line with the company’s previous forecast of $18.8 billion to $19.6 billion.
Capital expenditure in the fourth quarter was $5.24 billion, TSMC said, compared with $7.1 billion in the third quarter.
For the full year, capital expenditure came in at $30.45 billion, less than a prior forecast of $32 billion for 2023 and a total of $36.29 billion spent in 2022.
As the biggest maker of advanced chips, TSMC must navigate an uncertain industry outlook and a U.S.-China chip spat that could make it vulnerable.
TSMC’s Taipei-listed shares surged 32% last year. The stock rose 1.2% on Thursday ahead of the results versus a 0.4% gain for the benchmark index, giving the company a market value of $478.3 billion.
($1 = 31.5550 Taiwan dollars)
(Reporting by Yimou Lee and Faith Hung; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
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