The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has published its January revenue, indicating a strong start to the year that analysts believe would include a correction in semiconductor inventories. Furthermore, according to a recent Nikkei investigation, ZTE Corporation, a Chinese telecommunications company that the US government previously sanctioned for conducting business with Iran, is privately developing its products using one of TSMC’s most advanced chip manufacturing technologies.
The latter information comes after Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, a Chinese consumer electronics and technology company, was barred by the United States from using comparable technologies because of the company’s close ties to the Chinese military.
ZTE uses TSMC technology in its 5G base stations, and in January, TSMC reported NT$ 172 billion in revenue.
The first month of this year was the company’s best month in terms of dollar quantities and growth rates, per TSMC’s sales figures. It shows that the Taiwanese fab, the biggest contract chip manufacturer in the world, made NT$172 billion in January, a remarkable 35.8% increase. TSMC’s clients include a few of the biggest technology companies in the world. Among them are Apple Inc., headquartered in Cupertino, California; Qualcomm Incorporated; Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.; and NVIDIA Corporation, headquartered in Santa Clara. The industry’s “nodes,” or innovations in semiconductor production methods, made TSMC the driving force behind market growth throughout the years.
The income for January 2022 is significantly higher than the figures from previous years. In January 2021, the first month of the corporation’s fiscal year, for instance, TSMC generated NT$126 billion despite the widespread interruptions brought on by the ongoing epidemic. This change occurs as the company continues to gain from price increases and capacity expansion, the latter of which is due to chip shortages in the industry brought on by the pandemic’s increased demand.
Nikkei believes that ZTE, a Chinese telecoms company, is covertly gaining a technological lead in the market for fifth-generation (5G) cellular connection base stations as TSMC’s business grows. According to the newspaper, ZTE’s equipment is manufactured on the 7-nanometer (nm) manufacturing node and is used by telecom providers to meet consumer needs. It also notes that ZTE now has a huge advantage over Huawei because of US sanctions that prevent Huawei from doing business with TSMC.
