Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

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Gokul Hariharan: Okay. I think N3 is clearly one part of that ramp. But is there anything else that is €“ that you are already seeing that strong confidence for the second half rebound in addition to the N3 ramp-up?

Jeff Su: Sorry. So Gokul is asking sort of in terms of second half, why can TSMC’s business be better than the overall industry besides N3. Are there any other factors when you think about technology leadership?

C. C. Wei: Gokul, you are right. enters a ramp-up here of the business to rebound, and also actually, let me share with you some of the HPC customer. Also, I have a new product launch in the second half, especially in the AI area or in computing area. Did that answer your question?

Gokul Hariharan: Understood. Okay, thank you. That’s my first question. Jeff, can I move on to the second one?

Jeff Su: Yes, please.

Gokul Hariharan: Yes, thank you. My second question is on CapEx and capital intensity. CapEx, we are taking it down a notch for this year given the downturn, I guess, and some conservatism. Are we already seeing the peak in CapEx intensity in the cycle? Or we are likely to given the plans in Europe plans to expand more capacity in U.S.? Are we likely to see higher CapEx intensity in the out years as well?

Jeff Su: Okay. Sorry. Is that your okay, Gokul. I think I got the gist of your question. So Gokul’s second question is on CapEx and capital intensity. He notes this year, we have guided 32% to 36% given sort of some tightening up and such. So his question is €“ does this represent, have we already seen or past the peak in terms of our capital intensity this cycle, or as we may continue to evaluate and expand overseas and such? Will there be another step-up in our capital intensity?

Wendell Huang: Okay. Gokul, this is Wendell. As we said before, we invest the CapEx this year for the growth in the future years. So we also said earlier that we are tightening up the spending where appropriate. But as long as we believe the growth opportunity is there, we will continue to invest. Now we’ve given the guidance for this year, so you can calculate the capital intensity. It will be over 40%. From what we are able to see at this moment, several years down the road, we’re seeing the CapEx intensity to be between mid to high 30s. That’s the current view.

Gokul Hariharan: Thanks, Wendell. Is that several years like 5 years out or is it like close to like that?

Wendell Huang: Yes. Something like that. Something like that.

Gokul Hariharan: Okay, understood. Thank you very much.

Jeff Su: Alright. Thank you, Gokul. Operator, can we move on to the next participant.

Operator: Thank you. And our next question is come from Charlie Chan with Morgan Stanley. And Charlie, please go ahead.

Charlie Chan: Thanks for taking my questions, gentlemen. So first of all, a question to C. C. And so thanks for your sharing during the association, presentation on semiconductor challenge was pretty insightful. So my question is that you mentioned during your speech saying that the biggest change for semiconductor cost is getting higher, better long so-called supply chain. So I wanted to ask C. C., what’s the true value add of worth low going forward becomes much more expensive and whether you really see that customers can continue to expand our gross margin and create value to this world. So this is my first question. Thank you.

Jeff Su: Okay. So Charlie’s first question is around technology. He notes that the cost, I guess, and cost per transistor is getting higher and overall global costs are increasing as well. So his question is, what is the value or is there still value in the so-called Moore’s Law going forward? How does TSMC view this issue?

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