TSMC Raises Capital Expenditure Plan on Improved Outlook

By Alan Patterson, EETimes (July 16, 2020)

Taipei – Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) has increased its capital expenditure plan for this year by about $1 billion to an amount ranging from $16 billion to $17 billion on the improved expectation that demand for 5G phones and high-performance computing (HPC) products will boost sales in 2020 and for the next few years.

In the third quarter of 2020, the world’s largest chipmaker by market valuation expects strong orders from customers such as Apple and MediaTek for its 5nm and 7nm products, driven by applications in 5G smartphones, HPC and IoT.

In the near future, the company that’s a bellwether for the electronics industry still faces headwinds. The coronavirus pandemic will continue to disrupt consumer demand, and TSMC expects weakness in smartphone shipments compared with a year ago. Moreover, a ruling from the U.S. Department of Commerce to halt TSMC’s sales to China’s Huawei will probably crimp demand during the rest of this year.

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