Orders for tablets to account for 3% of TSMC 2011 revenues, says paper

Orders for chips for tablet PCs are likely to contribute only a small percentage to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company's (TSMC) consolidated revenues in 2011, and even 2012, the Chinese-language Commercial Times cited a Merrill Lynch analyst as reporting on June 24.

TSMC stands a good chance of winning orders for Apple's A6 processors, the paper quoted Dan Heyler, a semiconductor analyst with Merrill Lynch in Taipei, as indicating. But even if TSMC grabs all Apple's tablet chip orders for 2012, sales generated from the orders will account for only 2% of TSMC's overall sales for the year, Heyler was quoted as saying.

Orders for non-iPad tablet devices are expected to contribute only 3% to TSMC's consolidated revenues in 2011, and 4% in 2012, Heyler said, as cited by the paper.

Apple reportedly continues to contract Samsung Electronics to manufacture its A5 processors, using the foundry's 45nm process, the Commercial Times quoted industry sources as saying in a separate report. One thing for sure is that TSMC will not gain any orders from Apple in 2011, the paper observed.

Previous reports quoted industry estimates saying that orders for smartphones and tablets would generate sales of between US$900 million and US$1 billion in 2011, almost equal to the company's average revenues per month.

TSMC shares closed down 1.8% at NT$72.90 (US$2.52) on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE) on June 24.