After Foxconn, TSMC also reports record revenues on strong iPhone 12 demand

Strong iPhone 12 demand was credited with Foxconn reporting record revenues earlier this week, and now the same is true of TSMC. Apple’s chipmaker reported record revenue for December.

TSMC’s share price also hit a record high today in response to the news …

Bloomberg reports.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. reported record quarterly revenue, joining other Apple Inc. suppliers in signaling strong demand for the new 5G iPhones.

The world’s largest contract chipmaker said Friday that December sales totaled NT$117.4 billion ($4.2 billion). Revenue in the quarter reached a record NT$361.5 billion, according to Bloomberg News’s calculations based on previously released monthly sales figures […]

Shares of Apple’s main chipmaker have rallied more than 70% over the past 12 months and reached a record high on Friday.

iPhone assembler Foxconn earlier reported record revenues for December.

We observed then that the usual cautionary note must be applied, but the accumulation of evidence of strong iPhone 12 demand now seems overwhelming.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has frequently cautioned against reading too much into supply-chain sources. Apple likes to source components from multiple suppliers, so the fortunes of any one of them may not reveal anything other than the Cupertino company switching orders between them. However, looking at the size of orders received by multiple Apple suppliers, as well as any increases or decreases to those orders following launch, can provide insight into likely sales numbers.

TSMC is, of course, Apple’s sole supplier of A-series chips.

We also learned yesterday that Apple dominated smartphone activations in December, making up 7 of the top 10 activated smartphones in the US. iPhone 11 took the number one spot followed by iPhone 12 Pro Max and iPhone 12. This follows the company securing nine of the top ten slots on Christmas Day.

TSMC’s future looks even rosier now that Apple is transitioning its Mac lineup from Intel processors to Apple Silicon, also using chips made by the Taiwanese company.