The world's largest and most advanced semiconductor foundry, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE: TSM) , just held its third-quarter earnings release and conference call, and the numbers were impressive. Revenue was up 29.2%, earnings per share were up an even higher 35.9%, and the company's return on equity expanded 560 basis points to a stunning 31.3%.
Fueling those gains is TSM's leading position at the most advanced semiconductor nodes, which includes the highly popular 7-nanometer node, which made up 35% of sales, and the new 5-nanometer node, which just began volume production and made up 8% of sales. The new Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) 5G phone is powered by the A14 bionic chipset, which was made on the 5nm node and features 11.5 billion transistors -- 40% higher than the A13.
While other Asian phone makers have rolled out their own 5G phones complete with 7nm chips, Apple's first 5G phone should mark a breakthrough both for technology and customer adoption of 5G. Here's what TSM had to say about the state of 5G adoption today, as well as the 5G outlook through 2022.
For further details see:
5 Things Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Just Said About 5G