Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) largest customer accounted for 25 percent of its total revenue last year. Analysts believe the unnamed company to be Apple Inc.
The world’s largest contract chipmaker generated NT$336.78 billion (US$11.9 billion) in consolidated sales from its largest customer last year, accounting for about 25 percent of the total, financial data provided by TSMC showed.
With TSMC believed to be the sole processor supplier for Apple’s iPhone 12, analysts said the largest customer is likely the US consumer electronics giant, which drove the chipmaker’s sales growth.
Photo: Sam Yeh, AFP
TSMC did not identify the customer.
TSMC last year posted consolidated sales of NT$1.339 trillion, a historic high and up 25.17 percent from a year earlier on the back of strong global demand for smartphones, high-performance computing devices and Internet of Things products.
TSMC said that revenue generated from its largest customer rose 36.22 percent from a year earlier, meaning its sales to the customer rose from 23 percent to 25 percent of its total sales.
As Apple is keen to unveil processors it designed itself using TSMC’s high-end technologies, analysts said that the chipmaker is expected to see sales to the US customer grow.
TSMC said it last year generated consolidated sales of NT$167.39 billion from its second-largest customer, up 9.49 percent from a year earlier.
While TSMC again did not identify the customer, which accounted for 12 percent of total sales, down from 14 percent in 2019, analysts said that the company is likely Huawei Technologies Co (華為).
Due to tensions between the US and China, Washington imposed sanctions on the Chinese smartphone company on Sept. 15 last year. TSMC stopped shipments to Huawei on Sept. 14.
However, the void left by Huawei has been quickly filled by other customers, TSMC said.
Last year, TSMC generated NT$817.91 billion in sales to the US, which accounted for 61.07 percent of its total sales, making it the largest market for the company’s products.
TSMC posted sales of NT$233.78 billion, or 17.45 percent of its total sales, to China, the second-largest market, which was followed by Taiwan, where the chipmaker generated sales of NT$129.08 billion, or 9.63 percent of its total.
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