The world’s biggest contract chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, has warned of a deepening semiconductor slump, as the boom in artificial intelligence fails to offset global economic woes and China’s delayed recovery.
TSMC now expects its 2023 revenue to drop by 10 per cent, rather than the less than 5 per cent it forecast three months ago, the Taiwanese company told investors on Thursday. This would translate into a 15 per cent revenue decrease in the second half of the year, compared with the same period in 2022.
“Three months ago we were probably more optimistic, but now [we are] not. The recovery of the Chinese economy is weaker than we thought, so end-market demand is not as we expected,” said CC Wei, chief executive. “Although we have very good AI end-market demand, it is not enough to offset [that weakness].”