Supply and demand means TSMC set to beat revenue expectations for Q4 2021

What happens when you're top of the pile and everyone wants chips

TSMC looks set to beat its own revenue guidance for calendar Q4 of 2021 if the latest monthly figures are anything to go by, rounding off a year of strong growth for the semiconductor industry as a whole.

The Taiwanese chipmaker is currently in a quiet period, during which it refrains from making contact with the investment community, however it is scheduled to reveal all in its earnings conference on 13 January.

In its current guidance for investors, TSMC estimates that Q4 '21 net revenue would fall somewhere in the region of US$15.4bn to 15.7bn. However, a glance at the monthly figures published for the last three months of 2021 show the chip giant brought in a grand total of NT$438bn, which indicate it has surpassed those expectations with a figure somewhere in the region of US$15.8bn.

TSMC met its own guidance for calendar Q3, estimating that its revenue would be US$14.6bn-14.9bn and managing an actual figure of $14.88bn. Figures for 2021 have not yet been fully audited, according to TSMC.

Only careless semiconductor companies would have failed to make hay in 2021 amid rising demand for chips. Although, as we reported today, that demand is expected to slow during 2022.

TSMC warned last year that it was considering hiking the prices it charges clients for chip production by as much as 20 per cent in the near future. TSMC indicated at the time that it needed to raise funds to expand by building new fabrication plants outside of Taiwan. ®