Bellwether tech giants Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and Foxconn booked vastly different results for the first two months of 2024, raising questions about the durability of a budding recovery in consumer electronics demand.

TSMC’s sales increased 9.4 per cent year-on-year to TWD397.4 billion ($12.7 billion), with the figure up 7.9 per cent in January and 15.8 per cent in February.

It benefitted from soaring demand for high-end chips supporting AI workloads, with Nvidia a major customer. TSMC shares on the Taiwan stock market reached a record high this week.

During an earnings call in January, CEO CC Wei forecast full-year revenue would grow 20 per cent to 25 per cent.

The upbeat guidance came after it booked flat revenue in Q4 2023 and three consecutive quarters of declines in net profit.

Meanwhile, electronics contract manufacturer Foxconn’s revenue dropped nearly 18 per cent to TWD874.6 billion in the opening two months.

The figure fell 21 per cent in January and 12.3 per cent in February.

Foxconn stated sales of smart consumer electronics products declined and computing products were down slightly over the two months, with cloud and networking products growing.

The company is a key supplier to Apple and analysts previously warned of a major slowdown in iPhone demand in China, with Counterpoint Research data this week showing unit sales fell 24 per cent year-on-year in the first six weeks of 2024.

In late January, Samsung forecast consumer sentiment would stabilise and demand rebound in anticipation of a soft landing for a declining global economy, leading to full year smartphone shipments growth.