TSMC’s role as sole supplier of Apple’s A10 chip sees record profits & share price

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company winning sole supplier status for Apple’s A10 chip has seen the company achieve both record profits and share price, reports Bloomberg. It was recently suggested that record revenue suggested strong iPhone 7 sales going into the holiday quarter.

The world’s largest contract chipmaker has surged 32 percent in 2016, climbing to its highest level versus MSCI’s global gauge of technology stocks on record. The $156 billion company now accounts for 16 percent of Taiwan’s entire equity market value, the biggest proportion according to data stretching back 13 years, and none of the 33 analysts who cover it recommend selling the shares.

While the company has benefited from a broader rally in technology companies this year that’s seen rivals including Intel Corp. reach multi-year highs, TSMC is luring investors with record profit as demand for Apple Inc.’s new iPhones fuels orders for its processor chips.

Samsung’s spectacular troubles with the Note 7 are likely to assist TSMC in its efforts to be Apple’s only supplier for the A11 chip in next year’s iPhone 8 also. The company has said that it is almost ready to begin mass-production of chips using the 10-nanometer process expected to be used for the A11.

While analysts are bullish about the company’s prospects, they do warn that the company is heavily dependent on the iPhone’s fortunes, with one observing that ‘any hiccup on iPhone sales this and next year could have a big impact on TSMC.’