TSMC’s July revenue fell by 12.3% compared to the last month but managed to stay above NT$100 billion (US$3.4 billion). On a YoY basis, the revenue still grew by around 25%, coming in at NT$105.96 billion. The earnings for August and September both are expected to stay above NT$100 billion as well.
For the first seven months of 2020, TSMC’s revenue comes up to NT$727.26 billion, a hefty 33.6% higher compared to the same period in 2019. As per the company’s guidance, the revenue for Q3 2020 should be between US$11.2 billion and US$11.5 billion, a sequential increase of 9.3%, marking another record high.
The foundry’s 5nm, as well as 7nm capacity, are nearly fully booked for not only 2020 but for the most part of 2021 as well. All major chipmakers including AMD, Qualcomm, Mediatek, Apple, and now Intel will also rely on the Taiwanese Foundry for their flagship products.
In 2020, Apple will be the sole client receiving 5nm chips, with Huawei also getting a small chunk of its original orders. The majority of the remaining 7nm orders will go to AMD. Qualcomm is also expected to get its remaining 5nm chip supply from TSMC, either in late 2020 or early 2021.
AMD is expected to transition to the 5nm EUV process by the end of 2021 with its Zen 4 and RDNA 3 chips. It’s unclear whether Intel will leverage the 6nm or 5nm node, but chances are it’ll be the latter as it’s closer to its now delayed 7nm process.
TSMC recently introduced the “Dry-Clean Technique” into all its (EUV) mass production lines which is said to improve yields. Unlike traditional “Wet-Clean Flow”, which removes particles (impurities sticking to the EUV photomasks) by means of physical force, dry cleaning technology identifies the particles one by one by compositional analysis and identifies its source, thereby eliminating it.
