TSMC Q1 sales down 4.3% on Q410; up 14.3% YoY

TSMC reported Q1 sales of $3.6bn down 4.3% from the $3.8bn of Q410 and 14.3% from the $3.2bn of Q110, for a net profit of $1.25bn.

The company shipped 3.16m 8 inch equivalent wafers in the quarter.
Gross margin was 49%, down 0.8% from 4Q10 and up 1.1% from 1Q10.

For Q2, TSMC expects revenues of $3.8bn to $3.87bn with gross margin slipping to between.45.5% to 47.5%.

In Q1, wafer sales to the communication, computer, consumer and industrial segments decreased 3%, 9%, 6%, and 8%, respectively, from 4Q10.

40/45nm and 65nm processes represented 54% of total wafer sales, compared to 52% in 4Q10 and 41% in 1Q10.

Revenues from IDM customers accounted for 23% of total wafer sales in 1Q11, up 1 percentage point from 4Q10.

US accounted for 69% of total wafer sales, while sales from Asia Pacific, China, Europe and Japan accounted for 14%, 3%, 10%, and 4% of total wafer sales, respectively.

Cash in hand was $5.68bn at the end of the quarter.

TSMC’s managed capacity in 2Q11 is expected to increase by 8.4% to reach 3,320K 8-inch equivalent wafers. 12” wafer capacity will increase 10.2% from 1Q11, while 6” and 8” fabs capacity will increase 6% sequentially.

 Total managed capacity is expected to increase 19% from 11,329K 8-inch equivalent wafers in 2010 to 13,476K in 2011, in which 12-inch wafer capacity is expected to increase 33% sequentially