Posted on Wednesday, January 16 2019 @ 12:00 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
DigiTimes
writes industry observers believe TSMC will not have a stellar 2019. Last year the company saw significant growth, but this year the firm may be unable to achieve its 5 percent revenue growth target. The site says growth is likely to stagnate due to falling demand for Apple's iPhone and other smartphones.
Chip demand for 5G-capable devices is also unlikely to pick up substantially until 2020, said the observers, adding that 2019 is going to be a bad year for the world's largest pure-play foundry.
TSMC is encountering a number of demand-side challenges, including a collapse in demand for cryptocurrency mining ASICs, a cutback in orders from Nvidia, and most importantly, disappointing sales of the new iPhones that have prompted Apple - the foundry's largest client - to cut orders for its custom A12 processor, the observers noted.
TSMC controls over 50 percent of the semiconductor foundry market.
