Eric Pfanner, Taiwan Chip Industry Powers the Tech World, but Struggles for Status; Semiconductor makers suffer while companies they supply profit. New York Times, Sept 16, 2013.
Quote:
Taiwan "is the world’s biggest chip maker. The industry generated about $63 billion in sales here last year — more than one-fifth of the global total, according to the Taiwan Semiconductor Industry Association."
"2013 is shaping up as a pretty good year for chip makers in Taiwan, with revenue over all expected to rise to 1.87 trillion Taiwan dollars, or about $63 billion, up 14 percent from 2012, according to the Taiwan Semiconductor Industry Association."
My comment:
(a) The two quotations can not be both correct. There must be a typo somewhere. But New York Times has not made any correction so far.
(b) TSIA Q4 2012 Statistics on Taiwan IC Industry. Taiwan Semiconductor Industry Association 台灣半導體產業協會, Mar 5, 2013
("Taiwan IC revenue in 2012 reached NT$1,634.2B (US$55.4B) (4.6% increase from 2011) * * * The ITRI-IEK estimated that Taiwan IC revenue in 2013 will reach NT$1,785.6B (US$60.3B) (9.3% increase from 2012)")
* WSTS: World Semiconductor Trade Statistics www.wsts.org
* I can not find the meaning of ASP.
* ITRI-IEK: Industrial Economics and Knowledge Center, Industrial Technology Research Institute
工業技術研究院- 產業經濟與趨勢研究中心 (abbreviation: 工研院 產經中心)
(c) The report lumps DRAM with other segments of semiconductor industry in Taiwan. That may be a fatal mistake.
(d) Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ADR: American depositary receipt) reports profit margin for 2Q13 as 7.70%, and that of 2012, 6.98%.