Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.'s fourth-quarter net profit increased 16% from a year ago, driven by strong demand for chips used in computers and smartphones.
A poll of analysts at S&P Global Market Intelligence showed that the estimate of NT $161.12 billion was beat.
Both revenue and net profit were new record highs. Revenue from smartphones increased 7% from the previous quarter, while revenue from high-performance computing increased 3%. Revenue from customers in North America accounted for 66% of the fourth quarter's revenue, up from 65% in the third quarter, while revenue from China made up 12% of the total, up from 11% in the previous quarter. The company's operating profit margin deteriorated by 1.8 percentage points from a year ago to 41.7%. In 2021 TSMC said it spent $30.04 billion in capital expenditures. In April of last year, the company said that it would invest $100 billion over the next three years to increase production capacity.