The company reported NT$320.5 billion (€9.39 billion), down 8.3 per cent from April’s record high. It managed to clock a 39.6 per cent rise on the same time last year, making it the second‑highest May result in its books.
Despite that, June’s looking grim. Based on TSMC’s earlier US dollar‑based forecast, analysts reckon the company will have to settle for NT$252.9 billion (€7.41 billion) this month. If that holds, it’ll mark a double‑digit slide, rubbing salt into an already stingy currency wound.
So far, the chip shop has made more than NT$1.5 trillion (€43.95 billion) this year, up 42.6 per cent annually and a new high for the first five months. Investors liked what they saw, sending TSMC’s share price up NT$40 (€1.17) to NT\$1,045 (€30.61), helping Taiwan’s market leap 451 points. Foreign players lapped up more than 24,000 contracts and the company’s ADR rose more than two per cent on Tuesday.
Back in April, TSMC forecast its quarterly US dollar revenue would hit somewhere between $28.4 billion and $29.2 billion, assuming an exchange rate of NT\$32.5 to the dollar. That was meant to signal a 13 per cent quarterly gain. Unfortunately, with the NT dollar now stuck in the NT$29 range, converting that foreign dosh into new Taiwan fun tokens is proving harder than expected.
Legal types say that even if TSMC hits the low end of its guidance, it only needs about NT$252.9 billion (€7.41 billion) in June. But that still means a painful decline from May. The midpoint of the forecast suggests a possible NT$266 billion (€7.79 billion), roughly a 17 per cent drop.
TSMC chairman Wei Zhejia said every per cent rise in the NT dollar dents profit margins by 0.4 percentage points. With the NT dollar up eight per cent lately, TSMC’s margins have taken more than a three per cent walloping.
“Multiply it by 3 trillion (TSMC’s annual revenue) to know what it’s talking about,” Wei said, pointing to the company’s annual revenue.
Wei remains relentlessly chipper. He said that TSMC’s business was booming, and the company will be “very good” for the next five to ten years. He stuck by his earlier claim that 2025 revenue in US dollar terms would be up 24 to 26 per cent, continuing to outpace the wafer foundry racket as a whole.
On tariffs, Wei took a swipe at governmental meddling, saying TSMC just wants fairness, not favours. The US Commerce Department has reportedly taken the firm’s gripes on board after it warned tariffs would jack up costs and benefit precisely no one.