In yet another indication of the semiconductor industry’s poor health – the world’s largest contract manufacturer of chips, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC), has announced a 12 year-on-year drop in June sales. The Hsin-chu, Taiwan company, which makes chips to customer design and does not sell under its own brand, cited a 17.2% decline in unit sales of eight-inch equivalent wafers as the principal reason for the slump. Sales during the last month dropped to NT$3.02bn ($88m), down from NT$3.45bn during the same period in 1997. However, during the first six months of 1998, the Taiwanese company’s sales rose 61.9% to NT$27.33bn from NT$16.89bn in the same period last year, TSMC said in a statement. The news comes after the US Semiconductor Industry Association predicted in its mid-1998 forecast that the global semiconductor market in 1998 will shrink 1.8% to $134.6bn. TSMC had already announced the scaling down of its 1998 capital expenditure plans from $1.3bn to $920m.
