Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world's largest made-to-order chip-maker, has confirmed a decline in April sales on a month-on-month basis.
The underwhelming figures are, according to the firm, due to an appreciation of the New Taiwan (NT) dollar.
Indeed, the company confirmed April sales were worth NT$37.127 billion, a fall of 0.5 per cent from March. It said the decline was due to the local currency's increase, which is bad for the company's operations.
In fact, a rise of the local currency of just one per cent would cause the company's operating profit margin to drop by 0.4 per cent, Morris Chang, chairman and chief executive of TSMC, explained.
In other industry news, semiconductor manufacturer Broadcom has announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire SC Square, a security software developer based in Israel, in a deal worth $41.9 million.
It has been confirmed that the purchase price will be paid in cash.