Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. revealed during its latest earnings conference that the company's net profit decreased by 1.3% year-on-year to NTD75.33 billion, which was about USD2.33 billion, in the third quarter of 2015.

TSMC said that due to the declining demands of smartphones in the emerging markets and severe market competition, the company's net profit was NTD75.33 billion in the third quarter of 2015, a year-on-year drop of 1.3% and a decrease of 5.1% compared with the previous quarter. The company also attributed its net profit decline to the closure of its solar business, which led to losses of NTD2.8 billion.

At the same time, TSMC's operating revenue during the reporting period was NTD212.505 billion, a year-on-year increase of 1.7% and an increase of 3.4% compared with the previous quarter. Its gross margin decreased to 48.2%, which was lower than the same period of last year.

TSMC predicted that during the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2015, the company is expected to realize operating revenue between NTD201 billion and NTD204 billion. The company also announced that they will adjust their capital expenditure budget in 2015 to USD8 billion. In April 2015, the company predicted that their capital expenditure this year would be between USD10.5 billion and USD11 billion.

In addition, TSMC emphasized that the development of their 10nm chips is smooth and will put into volume production in the fourth quarter of 2016. They also expect to realize volume production of 7nm chips in 2017.