TAIPEI Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC posted a 24.9% fall in third-quarter net profit on Thursday as global economic woes hit demand for chips used in applications from cars to cellphones and servers and coming off a high base last year.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC), the world's largest contract chipmaker and a major Apple Inc supplier, saw July-September net profit fall to T$211 billion from T$280.9 billion a year earlier.

The profit beat a T$195.5 billion LSEG SmartEstimate, which is weighted toward forecasts from analysts who are more consistently accurate.

TSMC, Asia's most valuable listed company, said third-quarter revenue dropped 14.6% to US$17.3 billion, in line with the company's previous forecast of US$16.7 billion to US$17.5 billion.

Capital expenditure in the third quarter was US$7.1 billion, TSMC said, compared with US$8.17 billion in the previous quarter.

As the biggest maker of advanced chips, TSMC must navigate an uncertain industry outlook and a US-China chip spat that could make it vulnerable.

TSMC's Taipei-listed shares fell 27.1% in 2022, but are up around 22% so far this year, giving the chipmaker a market value of US$432.3 billion. The stock rose 1.1% on Thursday versus a flat benchmark index.

  - Reuters