2023-10-19 09:53:00
Bad news for the world semiconductor champion. The Taiwanese company TSMC announced this Thursday October that its profit had fallen by a quarter in the third quarter. In detail, the microchip giant indicated that its net profit fell 24.9% year-on-year during the July-September period to 211 billion Taiwan dollars ($6.5 billion), while its At the same time, turnover fell by 11% to 546.7 billion Taiwan dollars.
As a reminder, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is the world’s largest contract microchip manufacturer. It controls more than half of the world’s production of chips used in everything from smartphones to missiles.
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« I demand it in AI [intelligence artificielle, ndlr] continues to grow stronger and stronger. From TSMC’s perspective, we have limited capacity to support demand CEO CC Wei said during an earnings conference call. “ We are working hard to increase our capacity to meet this demand. »
The United States tightens restrictions against China
Demand for high-performance chips has been robust, with companies equipping themselves with the hardware needed for AI development following the successful launch of ChatGPT. But the chip industry faces uncertainty from high inflation and sluggish global economic growth, caused in part by geopolitical tensions.
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The United States announced this past Tuesday that it was further restricting exports of cutting-edge AI chips to China. These measures are part of a series of initiatives taken by the government of Donald Trump, then that of Joe Biden, to limit the access of Chinese companies to advanced equipment purchased abroad.
The new rules reinforce measures taken a year ago that banned the sale to China of microchips critical to making powerful AI systems. According to the American Minister of Commerce, Gina Raimondo, this is to prevent their use by China for military purposes and “ respond to threats posed to national security » from the United States, she said, in the press release.
“The impact on TSMC is limited and manageable”
The Semiconductor Industry Association of America (SIA) has warned that “ Overly extensive and unilateral control measures risk penalizing the American semiconductor ecosystem, without improving national security, because they encourage foreign customers to source their supplies elsewhere ».
Responding to a question on the impact of the new export restrictions, CC Wei said the company was still making an assessment. “ So far we can tell you that the impact on TSMC is limited and manageable at least in the short term “, he said.
The Taiwanese group was among the companies that benefited from exemptions last year when the American administration imposed restrictions on the export of American semiconductors and technological components to China.
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In the name of the “national security” Washington had already announced additional export controls in October 2022 to limit Beijing’s purchase and manufacturing of high-end chips. used in military applications “. But the move had sparked concerns among the world’s biggest chipmakers about the future of their operations in China.
(With AFP)
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