Jul. 31, 2018 – TSMC now expects to spend between $10 billion and $10.5 billion on capital expenditure, down from the $11.5 billion to $12 billion range given at the beginning of 2018 (see Morris Chang gives TSMC's outlook for 2018, says goodbye ).
TSMC CFO Lora Ho, speaking to financial analysts on a teleconference, said that part of the reduction was allowed for by $600 million in manufacturing efficiency gains thus a reduced need for tools and about $200 million comes from the U.S. dollar appreciation against the euro and Japanese yen.
For the full year of 2018 TSMC is forecasting that the overall semiconductor market, excluding memory, will grow by 5 percent, the lower end of a range given in January 2018, while foundry is expected to grow at about 7 percent versus the 9 to 10 percent given in January.