Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) reportedly had to fight to secure the A10 chip orders for the iPhone 7, but whatever it had to do to get there has clearly paid off!
That’s based on the company’s new 2016 revenue forecast, which has just been ramped up based on new profit and sales records being reached in the year’s third quarter — largely thanks to the success of Apple’s next-gen iPhone.
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TSMC doesn’t disclose details of customer orders, although it said on Thursday that it now expects revenue growth to be 11-12 percent, rather than the previous estimate of a 5-10 percent increase.
The company’s Q3 revenue jumped 23 percent to hit T$260.4 billion, representing a new quarterly record and considerably more than the company predicted back in July.
Interestingly, a report from Taiwan-based Fubon Research claims that TSMC is the sole maker of the A10 processor used in the iPhone 7, as well as the main foundry source for chips in the smartphone. This is different to last year, where TSMC shared Apple chip orders with Samsung.
Previously, the war between both companies as to who would win Apple’s orders has even lead to a lawsuit, as a former TSMC employee was charged with leaking trade secrets to Samsung.
The news about TSMC’s success adds another piece of evidence to the idea that the iPhone 7 may turn out to be a much more successful phone than some thought it would be. A report from September claimed that Apple has upped orders for the handset by an impressive 10 percent.
How much iPhone 7 demand is helped by Samsung’s disastrous Note 7 debacle remains to be seen.
Source: Reuters
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
One response to “Soaring iPhone 7 demand helps Apple supplier set new profit record”
I can’t believe how many sites are erroneously drawing this conclusion. You made the connection yourself. Records sales and profits are almost certainly due to TSMC being the sole provider of the A10 for the iPhone 7 and no longer sharing a piece of the pie with Samsung. To make the leap that an increased YoY demand for the iPhone is contributing to these records would obviously require an understanding of the total sales for the A9, over the same period of time a year prior, between both TSMC AND Samsung, as well as specific sales numbers from TSMC for the current year.
Something tells me you don’t have have any of that information. wtf.