CAPITAL EXPENDITURE:Despite a sharp downturn in the semiconductor industry, analysts say that TSMC’s partnership with Apple Inc remains strong
Taipei Times
Date: Oct 16, 2015
By: Lisa Wang / Staff reporter
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which supplies
Left to right, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co co-chief executive Wei Che-chia, president and co-chief executive Mark Liu and chief financial officer Lora Ho, take their seats at a shareholders’ meeting in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
chips for Apple Inc’s iPhone 6S smartphones, yesterday slashed this year’s capital spending by 27 percent, after weak demand for smartphone chips drove down quarterly net profits to their lowest in five quarters.
TSMC plans to spend US$8 billion on new equipment and facilities this year, rather than allocating a capital budget of between US$10.5 billion and US$11 billion as it estimated in June. This year’s spending is the lowest since 2011.
Earlier this week, Intel Corp cut its capital spending for the fourth time to US$7.3 billion amid a slowing market demand.
“This year, due to weaker global economy, a stronger US dollar and volatile financial markets, consumer electronics market has been negatively effected. This results in a lack of growth in the overall semiconductor market,” TSMC co-chief executive Mark Liu (劉德音) said. [FULL STORY]
