TSM CAPEX Blows The Doors Down -- January 13, 2022

BK: Bank of New York Mellon -- hit a 52-week high. 

AAPL: finally getting traction as an autonomous automobile company. MS says the autonomous vehicle revolution is the mother of all IoT; Tesla is the leader by many laps; the question is whether Apple can be the "second mover" as it has done in so many other sectors. With those MS remarks earlier today, AAPL is moving today: up 68 cents today. 

TSM: CAPEX blows me away -- link here. It will be interesting to hear what Jim Cramer has to say on this, and then "tech check" at 10:00, my least favorite hour on CNBC. 

• Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing said on Thursday that it would spend between $40 billion and $44 billion on capital expenditures, as demand for semiconductors continues to surge, a problem exacerbated by the ongoing pandemic and supply chain crunch.
• Taiwan Semiconductor said it earned $1.15 per share during the fourth-quarter on $15.74 billion in revenue, up 24.1% year-over-year. Estimates called for the company to earn $1.11 a share on $15.77 billion. Gross margin for the quarter was 52.7%, operating margin was 41.7%, and net profit margin was 37.9%.
• AAPL's gross margin in the 25 - 30% range?
  
• For the first-quarter, Taiwan Semiconductor said it expects to generate between $16.6 billion and $17.2 billion in revenue, with gross margins between 53% and 55%, while operating profit margins are expected to be between 42% and 44%.

RBN Energy: while SCOOP/STACK oil output falls, "rich" gas signals a rebound, part 2.

Activity in Oklahoma’s SCOOP/STACK play has been picking up. In 2021, the number of active rigs there improved by about 30 — that’s a bigger gain than any U.S. hydrocarbon production basin except the Permian. On a percentage basis, the 160% year-over-year increase in the SCOOP/STACK rig count was exceeded — and just barely — by only a couple of other rich-gas regions: the Niobrara and Ohio portion of Marcellus/Utica. Is SCOOP/STACK really on the rebound and, if so, why? The answers are tied to commodity prices and the fact that the Oklahoma play offers producers both crude oil and “rich,” NGL-saturated associated gas. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss recent developments in the Sooner State’s premier production area.

TSM, again: earnings call. From the CEO:

This concludes my financial presentation. Now I will move on to key messages. I will start by making some comments on our 2022 capital budget and depreciation. Every year, our CapEx is spent in anticipation of the growth that will follow in the future years. We are witnessing a structural increase in underlying semiconductor demand underpinned by the industry megatrends of 5G-related and HPC applications.

In 2021, we spent US$30 billion to capture the strong demand and support our customers' growth. In 2022, our capital budget is expected to be between US$40 billion to US$44 billion. Out of the US$40 billion to US$44 billion CapEx for 2022, between 70% and 80% of the capital budget will be allocated for advanced process technologies, including 2-nanometer, 3-nanometer, 5-nanometer and 7-nanometer. About 10% will be spent for advanced packaging and mask making and 10% to 20% will be spent for specialty technologies.

Our depreciation expense is expected to increase by low to mid-teens percentage year-over-year in 2022 as newly incurred depreciation will be partially offset by other notes rolling off depreciation. With this level of CapEx spending in 2022, we reiterate that TSMC remains committed to a sustainable cash dividend on both an annual and quarterly basis.

California, reported previously: