Posted on Tuesday, January 20 2009 @ 2:40 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
Taiwanese foundry TSMC is having a tough time, DigiTimes
writes analysts expect TSMC's January sales will be down 35-40 percent sequentially, while surplus semiconductor stockpiles at clients are climbing. Analysts estimate TSMC's utilization rate during the first quarter of the year may go down to as low as 40 percent.
Market watchers have estimated that TSMC's January sales will slide 35-40% sequentially, while surplus semiconductor stockpiles at clients have climbed to 100 days-of-inventory (DOI) on average. In the fourth quarter of 2008, TSMC had a DOI of 90 days.
Of TSMC's major customers, Nvidia has revised its revenue guidance for its fourth quarter of fiscal 2009 (ending January 25 2009) to a 40-50% decline sequentially. Xilinx also said that its fiscal fourth quarter revenues may go down 15-25% sequentially.
In addition, TSMC's utilization rate for the first quarter of 2009 will go down to as low as 40%, according to market watchers.
Rival UMC is having the same problems, analysts expect the foundry will see its January revenue drop about 35 percent sequentially, while its utilization rate may drop to less than 30 percent in the first quarter.
