Major Apple supplier TSMC cuts chip market outlook as consumer weakness persists

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) scaled back its outlook for a chip market expansion, cautioning that the smartphone and personal-computing markets remain weak.

Jane Lanhee Lee for Bloomberg News :
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The world’s largest maker of advanced chips cut its expectations for 2024 semiconductor market growth — excluding memory chips — to about 10%, from above that figure. Chief Executive Officer C. C. Wei also trimmed his growth forecast for the foundry sector, which TSMC leads. Meanwhile, the company maintained its estimates for spending at anywhere between $28 billion and $32 billion amid capacity expansion and upgrades this year.

“Macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty persists, potentially weighing on consumer sentiment and end-market demand,” Wei told analysts on a conference call. TSMC’s stock slid more than 6% in Taipei, the biggest intraday decline in about 18 months.

TSMC’s forecast follows the company’s first quarterly profit rise in a year. The main chipmaker to Nvidia Corp. and Apple Inc. expects revenue of $19.6 billion to $20.4 billion in the June quarter, beating estimates for about $19.1 billion.

That outlook may help assuage some investors worried that AI demand won’t hold up, or that a smartphone recovery may be longer in coming.

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