TSMC encountered turbulence again, and its photoresist material incident caused tens of thousands of 12-inch wafers to be scrapped. Due to the uncertain economic prospects, communication and computer application IC design companies were adjusted to inventory, and their willingness to put into production decreased. Coupled with the traditional off-season effect, resulting in Apple-dominated high-end smartphone core chip manufacturers cut orders. Taking the above factors into consideration, DIGITIMES Research estimates that the total revenue of Taiwan's major wafer foundries in the first quarter of 2019 will only reach US$8.27 billion, a decline of 23.4% from the previous quarter and a decline of 17% from the same period in 2018.

Chai Huanxin, an analyst at DIGITIMES Research, further explained that the cryptocurrency market is not in good condition. Since the second half of 2018, the amount of ASIC orders for cryptocurrency mining machines from major wafer foundries in Taiwan has declined quarter by quarter, and GPU-related IC design companies have stockpiled Adjusted, Taiwan's major wafer foundries in the first quarter of 2019 will generate US$960 million in revenue from computer applications, a 23% decline from the previous quarter.

In addition to the scrapping of about 10,000 12-inch wafers, the TSMC photoresist raw material incident also delayed TSMC's 16/12nm process wafer shipments to the second quarter. Analyst Chai Huanxin estimates that in the first quarter of 2019, TSMC will come from 16/12 The nano-process revenue will show a significant decline compared to the previous quarter, and the overall revenue of TSMC will be revised down from the original estimate of 7.3-7.4 billion US dollars to 7.0-7.1 billion US dollars.

Chai Huanxin pointed out that the proportion of revenue from 28nm and below advanced processes in Taiwan's major foundries fell from 59.5% in the fourth quarter of 2018 to 54.9% in the first quarter of 2019. The process-specific product mix deteriorated, and the overall average selling price Will slip, the lowest in nearly 7 seasons.

d00c7046-ffb1-44ec-b592-0bfdd45689a5.jpg