The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) recently raised its growth forecast for Taiwan's semiconductor industry, expecting production value to expand about 19.4% to NT$ 4.88 trillion (US$ 164.24 billion) this year, primarily aided by stronger growth from foundry companies amid a chip crunch.

That means the output of Taiwan's semiconductor industry would again outpace that of its global peers, which collectively are expected to grow 10.4% this year, ITRI said.

The institute three months ago estimated that the production value of the nation's semiconductor industry would grow 17.7% annually to NT$ 4.81 trillion this year, compared with NT$ 4.08 trillion last year.

The production value of the foundry sector, the biggest contributor to the industry, is expected to grow 28% to top NT$ 2.49 trillion this year, compared with an earlier estimate of 24% expansion, the institute said.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world's biggest foundry service provider, posted record revenue of NT$ 172.56 billion for last month, surging 55% annually and up 0.3% monthly.

That brought TSMC's revenue in the first four months of this year to NT$ 663.64 billion, soaring 40.1% from NT$ 473.73 billion in the same period last year.

Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing, which primarily makes display driver and power management ICs, reported revenue last month surged about 48% year-on-year to a record NT$ 7.33 billion, with cumulative revenue in the first four months jumping 54.14% to NT$28.04 billion.

Production value at chip designers, the second-biggest contributor to the nation's semiconductor industry, are expected to climb 14% annually to NT$ 1.38 trillion this year, the institute said.

Handset chip designer MediaTek reported that revenue increased 43.89% annually to NT$ 52.63 billion last month, the second-largest monthly level in the firm's history.

Revenue in the four-month period totalled NT$195.34 billion, up 35.08% year-on-year, the company said.

ITRI said that local chip testers' production value would grow 9.6% annually to NT$ 222.5 billion this year, higher than its February estimate of an 8.4% rise to NT$ 220 billion.

However, memory chip makers' production value would rise 7.6% to NT$ 309.8 billion this year, a downward revision from its February prediction of a 10.7% increase to NT$ 318.8 billion, it said.