Boosted by the demand for AI chips, TSMC's revenue in the fourth quarter of 2023 exceeded expectations, flattening the record high of the same period last year.
On January 10, TSMC released data showing that its revenue in December 2023 was NT$176.3 billion (about US$5.7 billion), a year-on-year decrease of 84%；Revenue in the fourth quarter reached NT$625.5 billion (about 200.5 billionUS$800 million), beating analysts' expectations of NT$616.2 billion (US$19.7 billion), unchanged from the same period last year.
For the full year of 2023, TSMC will achieve revenue of 2NT$16 trillion (about 693US$800 million), down 45%。
* TSMC's revenue in the fourth quarter exceeded expectations, mainly due to the demand for chips for AI development, which partially offset the decline in demand for chips in consumer electronics such as smartphones and laptops, according to the analysis.
TSMC's chip production capacity is stuck in the neck of almost all mainstream AI chip manufacturers, which also makes it the main beneficiary of the AI wave brought by ChatGPT: Including NVIDIA's H100 with 4nm process and A100 and A800 with HNM process, AMD's M1200 with 6nm process and M1300 with 5nm processSome of Xilinx's and Intel's products are also manufactured by TSMC.
Therefore, analysts pointed out that TSMC's technology iteration speed is a key factor in the development of the AI chip industry. TSMC has previously said that even in the midst of a global economic downturn, companies are rushing to build their own AI toolsTSMC's 2024 performance is expected to return to the growth track, with revenue challenges of 2NT$5 trillion.
TSMC President Wei Zhejia mentioned at the **Chain Management Forum in December last year that there is still uncertainty in 2024 due to external factors such as inflation and constant costs. However, benefiting from the rapid development of AI applications, 2024 will also be a year full of opportunities. In addition, TSMC has predicted at the press conference in October last year that the demand for 3nm is better than three months ago, which will help the company achieve healthy growth in 2024.
According to the analysis of legal persons, TSMC will benefit from the growth of multiple applications in major customer terminals such as Apple, Nvidia, and AMD this year, especially the increase in the global output value of graphics processing units (GPUs) will be the biggest driving force. At the same time, the diversification of customized AI accelerators and application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) will also drive operations. Research institute dell'Oro estimates that global GPU production will grow by 70% annually in 2024.
The booming demand for artificial intelligence chips has driven the ** of TSMC's stock price, which will soar by more than 25% in 2023.