The money will be used to boost overall capacity by 15 percent, to about 4.6 million 8-inch equivalent wafers. Within that context, 12-inch wafer capacity will increase 130 percent.

Last quarter, the foundry said it ran at 101 percent capacity utilization, meaning that it squeezed more wafers out of its factories than they were rated for. That, and incremental increases in capacity, helped TSMC book record high revenue of $5.8 billion in 2003, up 25 percent over 2002. Profit rose 119 percent during the same period to $1.37 billion, slightly exceeding market expectations.

TSMC said it expects demand to remain firm in the current quarter. Wafer shipments will increase by up to 5 percent, ASPs will decline slightly and utilization will hover at 100 percent.

Communications pulled into the lead last quarter as TSMC's top revenue earner (42 percent), followed by the PC segment (35 percent) and then consumer (17 percent). TSMC expects increasing demand from communications, relatively flat demand in the consumer area, and a seasonal decline in the PC segment.

Demand for 0.13 micron technology was relatively flat in the fourth quarter, at 18 percent of sales. The percentage of sales for 0.18-micron and below technologies declined a few percent.

TSMC noted that R&D expenses increased 32 percent last quarter due to ongoing development of 90- and 60-nanometer technologies on 12-inch wafers.

Quarter-on-quarter sales were up 5 percent to $1.7 billion. Profit was also up 5 percent to $471 million.

By: DocMemory
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