The company has announced that its third-quarter revenues will exceed its guidance given in mid-July, thanks to a more favorable US dollar exchange rate to the NT dollar. However, revenues for the third quarter will be about $6.42 billion. Gross margin and operating margin will still be within the previous guidance of 47-49 per cent.

TSMC's revenues for the fourth quarter, however, will drop to between $6 billion with profit margin rates similar to the prior quarter's levels, the company said.

For all of 2015, TSMC expects to post a double-digit increase in revenues as the company guided previously.

The company expected that it would gain more A9 processor orders from Apple Inc next quarter to offset customers' inventory corrections. However one has to wonder if TSMC is now thinking that its Apple sales are set to take a hit.  Its other smartphone chip customers like Qualcomm, MediaTek have been taking a hammering. TSMC will meet its full-year target, but only thanks to the currency move.

Global smartphone shipment growth is expected to slow this year and average 7.9 percent during the next five years, compared with 34 percent growth over the past five years. Sales of all types of devices are to decline by 1 percent this year, Gartner Inc said in a report yesterday.