Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSM) 20-F2021 FY Annual report (foreign)

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Since 2018, there have been political, and trade tensions among a number of the world’s major economies. These tensions have resulted or may result in the implementation of tariff,trade barriers and sanctions, including the use of export control restrictions and sanctions against certain countries and individual companies. These trade barriers and other measures have been particularly impactful to the semiconductor industry and related markets. Prolonged or increased use of trade barriers and such measures may result in a decrease in the growth of the global economy and the semiconductor industry, and could cause turmoil in global markets that often result in declines in electronic products sales from which we generate our income through our products and services. Also, any increase in the use of export control restrictions and sanctions to target certain countries and entities, any expansion of the extraterritorial jurisdiction of export control laws, or complete or partial ban on semiconductor products sales to certain entities could impact not only our ability to continue supplying products to those customers, but also our customers’ demand for our products, and could even lead to changes in semiconductor supply chains. For example, in May 2020 and again in August 2020, the U.S. tightened its export control measures against Huawei Technology Co. Ltd. and its affiliates (collectively, “Huawei”), including an expanded license requirement for providing Huawei with items subject to the U.S. export control jurisdiction. To comply with relevant laws and regulations, we have discontinued shipment of products to Huawei since September 15, 2020. On the other hand, measures adopted by an affected country to counteract the impact of another country’s actions or regulations could lead to significant legal liability to multinational corporations including our own. For example, in January 2021, China adopted a blocking statute that, among other matters, entitles Chinese entities incurring damages from a multinational’s compliance with foreign laws to seek civil remedies. In February 2022, several countries and regions began to impose various measures, including sanctions and export controls, against Russia, including certain individuals and entities, as a result of the military conflict in Ukraine. As of the date of this annual report, our current results of operations have not been materially affected by the expanded export control regulations or the novel rules or measures adopted to counteract them. Nevertheless, depending on future developments in global trade tensions and military conflicts, such regulations, rules, or measures may have an adverse impact on our business and operations, and we may incur significant legal liability and financial losses as a result.

The semiconductor industry and its technologies are constantly changing. We compete by developing process technologies using increasingly advanced nodes and on manufacturing products with more functions. We also compete by developing new derivative technologies. If we do not anticipate these changes in technologies and rapidly develop new and innovative technologies, or our competitors unforeseeably gain sudden access to additional technologies, we may not be able to provide foundry services on competitive terms. In addition, our customers have significantly decreased the time in which their products or services are launched into the market. If we are unable to meet these shorter productwe risk losing these customers. These factors have also been intensified by the shift of the global technology market to consumer driven products, such as smartphones, and increasing competition and concentration of customers (all further discussed among these risk factors). Also, the uncertainty and instability inherent in advanced technologies also impose challenges for achieving expected product quality and product yield. If we fail to maintain quality, it may result in loss of revenue and additional cost, as well as loss of business or customer trust. For example, in January 2019, we discovered yield problems inandwafers caused by a batch of photoresist, which resulted in delayed delivery of products and had a negative effect on our gross margin and operating margin in the first quarter of 2019. To reduce future risks of such incidences, we have since strengthened inline wafer inspection and tightened control of incoming material to deal with the increasing complexity of leading-edge technologies. If we are unable to innovate new technologies that meet the demand of our customers or overcome the above factors, we may become less competitive and our revenue may decline significantly.

Our production operations require that we obtain adequate supplies of raw materials, such as silicon wafers, gases, chemicals, and photoresist, on a timely basis and at commercially reasonable prices. In the past, shortages in the supply of some materials, whether by specific vendors or by the semiconductor industry generally, have resulted in occasional industry-wide price adjustments and delivery delays. Moreover, major natural disasters, trade barriers and political or economic turmoil, including military conflicts and inflation, occurring within the country of origin of such raw materials may also significantly disrupt the availability of such raw materials or increase their prices. Also, since we procure some of our raw materials from sole-sourced suppliers, there is a risk that our need for such raw materials may not be met or thatsupplies may not be readily available. Importation and domestic production limitations may also limit our ability to obtain adequate supplies of raw materials as well as materials of the necessary quality. In addition, recent trade tensions could result in increased prices or even unavailability of raw materials due to tariffs, export control or otherbarriers. Our revenue and earnings could decline if we are unable to obtain adequate supplies of the necessary raw materials in a timely manner or if there are significant increases in the costs of raw materials.

Our ability to compete successfully and to achieve future growth depends in part on the continued strength of our intellectual property portfolio. While we actively enforce and protect our intellectual property rights, there can be no assurance that our efforts will be adequate to prevent the misappropriation or improper use of our proprietary technologies, software, trade secrets orAlso, we cannot assure you that, as our business or business models expand into new areas, we will be able to develop independently the technologies, patents, software, trade secrets ornecessary to conduct our business or that we can do so without unknowingly infringing the intellectual property rights of others. As a result, we may have to rely on, to a certain degree, licensed technologies and patent licenses from others. To the extent that we rely on licenses from others, there can be no assurance that we will be able to obtain any or all of the necessary licenses in the future on terms we consider reasonable or at all. The lack of necessary licenses could expose us to claims for damages and/or injunctions from third parties, as well as claims for indemnification by our customers in instances where we have contractually agreed to indemnify our customers against damages resulting from infringement claims.

We have received, from time to time, communications from third parties, includingentities and semiconductor companies, asserting that our technologies, our manufacturing processes, or the design IPs of the semiconductors made by us or the use of those semiconductors by our customers may infringe their patents or other intellectual property rights. Because of the nature of the industry, our market position, and the expansion of our manufacturing operations outside of Taiwan, we may receive an increased number of such communications in the future. The assertions made and lawsuits initiated by litigious, well-funded,entities are particularly aggressive in their monetary demand and in seeking court-issued injunctions. Such lawsuits and assertions may increase our cost of doing business and may potentially be extremely disruptive if these asserting entities succeed in blocking the trade of products made and services offered by us. See “Item 8. Financial Information – Legal Proceedings” for a further discussion. Also, with the expansion of our manufacturing operations into certainjurisdictions, we have faced increased challenges in managing risks of intellectual property misappropriation. Despite our efforts to adopt robust measures to mitigate the risk of intellectual property misappropriation in such new jurisdictions, we cannot guarantee that the protection measures we adopted will be sufficient to prevent us from potential infringements by others, or at all.

The ongoingpandemic may materially adversely affect our business and results of operations in several ways, including but not limited to: (i) interruption of the operations of our supply chains for equipment, parts and materials in terms of manufacturing, logistics, and manpower arrangements for tool installation; (ii) significant fluctuation in our customers’ demands for certain products, leading to uncertainties for our capacity planning and also for meeting customer demand, which may harm our business with our customers and subject us to the risk of legal disputes; and (iii) strict border control measures which may delay or restrict our employees or vendors from completing necessary training programs or providing services; and (iv) potential production delays for our products due to forced factory or office closures or partial operation.

We have formed an “Epidemic Prevention Committee” to identify, implement and monitor actions stemming from the dynamic exigencies of the pandemic, including but not limited to, health management of our employees, splitting operation and work from home arrangements, identification and control of high risk individuals, rapid investigation of confirmed cases, management of production inventory, supply chain management, and capacity management for demand changes. As of the date of this annual report, our current business and results of operations have not been materially affected by the pandemic. However, there is no certainty that the measures we have taken will be sufficient to mitigate further risks posed by thepandemic, and our ability to perform critical functions and to meet customers’ needs could be materially adversely affected as a result. In addition, there is also a risk that any post-pandemic downward changes in consumers’ demand for electronic products may, in turn, lead to reduced demand for and place downward pressure on the price of our products and services.

We have multiple expansion projects that are currently underway, including the design and construction of new fabs worldwide. Labor shortages, interruptions in the supply chains for various building materials, and construction issues could substantially delay the completion of our expansion projects. Any prolongation of such delays could result in substantial additional costs or failure to meet our capacity expansion plans. In addition, future expansions of our operations in the R.O.C. or elsewhere could be impacted by the limited availability ofland.

Substantially all of our sales are denominated in U.S. dollars and over half of our capital expenditures are denominated in currencies other than the NT dollar, primarily in U.S. dollars, Euros and Japanese yen. As a result, any significant fluctuations to our disadvantage in the exchange rate of the NT dollar against such currencies, in particular a weakening of the U.S. dollar against the NT dollar, would have an adverse impact on our revenue and operating profit as expressed in NT dollars. For example, every 1% depreciation of the U.S. dollar against the NT dollar would result in an approximately 0.4 percentage point decrease in our operating margin based on our 2021 results.

Conversely, if the U.S. dollar appreciates significantly versus other major currencies, the demand for the products and services of our customers and for our goods and services will likely decrease, which will negatively affect our revenue. Please see “Item 11. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk” for a further discussion.