Hsinchu, Taiwan, R.O.C., Oct 19, 2017 -- TSMC today announced consolidated revenue of NT$252.11 billion, net income of NT$89.93 billion, and diluted earnings per share of NT$3.47 (US$0.57 per ADR unit) for the third quarter ended September 30, 2017.

Year-over-year, third quarter revenue decreased 3.2% while net income and diluted EPS both decreased 7.1%. Compared to second quarter 2017, third quarter results represented a 17.9% increase in revenue and a 35.7% increase in net income. All figures were prepared in accordance with TIFRS on a consolidated basis.

In US dollars, third quarter revenue was $8.32 billion, which increased 17.9% from the previous quarter and increased 1.5% year-over-year.

Gross margin for the quarter was 49.9%, operating margin was 38.9%, and net profit margin was 35.7%.

In the third quarter, shipments of 10-nanometer accounted for 10% of total wafer revenue; 16/20-nanometer process technology accounted for 24% of total wafer revenue; and advanced technologies, defined as 28-nanometer and more advanced technologies, accounted for 57% of total wafer revenue.

“The strength of our third quarter revenue was driven mainly by major mobile product launches and a generally healthy demand environment, including cryptocurrency mining. However, this strength of our third quarter revenue was partially dampened by our customers’ continued inventory management,” said Lora Ho, SVP and Chief Financial Officer of TSMC. “We expect our fourth quarter business will continue to be supported by the major mobile product launches, while our customers continue their inventory management. Based on our current business outlook, management expects the overall performance for fourth quarter 2017 to be as follows”:

• Revenue is expected to be between US$9.10 billion and US$9.20 billion;

• And, based on the exchange rate assumption of 1 US dollar to 30.3 NT dollars, Gross profit margin is expected to be between 48% and 50%;

• Operating profit margin is expected to be between 37% and 39%.

The management further expects the 2017 capital budget to be about US$10.8 billion