Taiwan Semiconductor Q4 FY12/24 Earnings Review

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All Good Things

... must come to an end. But not yet, it seems. $TSM just printed another superb set of earnings, strong on every measure including guidance. This is bullish for the economy and bullish for equities in general in my view. TSM is the fulcrum around which pivots most all of the high-end part of the semiconductor industry. If you have a fancy product built to a small geometry there is a good chance you have to have TSMC make it for you. When the semiconductor industry slows, you'll see it in TSMC guidance first, most likely, since they report very early each quarter. For now though, all is good.

Here's the headline numbers.

Yes, even with $30bn of capex in the last twelve months on revenue of $90bn (capex 1/3 of sales, yikes) this thing still managed to turn in >30% TTM unlevered pretax free cashflow margins. Which tells you they have some serious pricing power with their customers. Revenue growth of 30% at this scale is remarkable and $48bn of net cash on the balance sheet says that the company could weather a storm or four.

Detailed financials, valuation, our rating and price targets follow for subscribers.