Part of this is because the global IC foundry market sector is set to log a 5 per cent  increase in 2016 while the overall semiconductor market will grow by a smaller 2 per cent. Company co-CEO Mark Liu. TSMC's growth will continue to outperform the industry average.

TSMC expects to post a 5-10% revenue increase in 2016, said Liu. This figure is  less-optimistic compared to an at least double-digit increase Liu predicted previously, but hell, you can't have everything.

What is a little unusual is that Liu claims that smartphones will continue to provide growth momentum for TSMC in 2016.  Most analysts think that smartphone sales are dying as the market is saturated, yet TSMC's forecast of smartphone shipment growth for 2016 is eight per cent.  It is not clear what rabbit Liu will pull out of a hat which will make this work.

TSMC also predicted global 2016 shipments of PC will fall by three percent s, tablets by seven percent  and consumer electronics devices by five percent.

TSMC reported net profits of US$9.15 billion for 2015. Both results hit the highest levels in the company's history.  However, TSMC's gross margin for 2015 fell 0.8pp from a year earlier to 48.7 per cent.

 TSMC's capex will reach US$9-10 billion in 2016 from US$8 billion in 2015, according to company CFO Lora Ho. Capex for 2016 will be used mainly for the development of the foundry's 10nm and more advanced process technologies, and backend services such as InFO wafer-level packaging, and construction of a new fab in Nanjing, China, said Ho.