Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company posted strong financial earnings but gave a cautious outlook, saying it expected 2023 to be a “slight growth year” owing to a cyclical downturn in the chip industry. The world’s largest contract manufacturer of chips reported a 78 per cent increase in net profit year on year to NT$295.9bn (US$9.6bn) for the fourth quarter, exceeding analyst forecasts of NT$287.4bn, with profitability boosted by a favourable exchange rate and cost-cutting.

But TSMC’s chief executive CC Wei told investors on an earnings call on Thursday that he expected 2023 to be a “slight growth year” after customers’ chip inventories normalised in the second half of the year.

The Hsinchu-based chip company posted NT$625.5bn in revenue in the fourth quarter, missing analyst estimates of NT$636bn, the first miss in two years. TSMC’s shares fell 27 per cent in 2022 as investors priced in expectations that the pandemic boom for electronics was coming to an end.