Company's first-quarter revenue dropped 18 percent compared to last year Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. on Tuesday reported its worst quarterly revenue since the second quarter of 2005.The company’s unconsolidated revenue for the first quarter dropped 18 percent compared to the same time last year, to NT$63.35 billion (US$1.19 billion), while its consolidated revenue, NT$64.90 billion, beat its guidance for the first quarter.The world’s largest contract chip maker released its monthly revenue for March on Tuesday, and tallied up revenue for the first three months of the year. Although the tally is unaudited, and doesn’t always end up as the official revenue for a quarter, it’s not often far off. TSMC is scheduled to officially release its first quarter revenue and other financial results on April 26 in Taipei. Tuesday’s unconsolidated figure marks the weakest revenue for TSMC in seven quarters, since it reported revenue of NT$58.52 billion in the second quarter of 2005. TSMC had forecast its consolidated revenue in the first quarter of this year would be between NT$62 billion and NT$64 billion, a steep decline from the fourth quarter of last year, due to an ongoing chip glut and as consumers slow their purchases of technology items after the busy holiday season.There are signs the chip glut is easing, however: The global stockpile of chips in the electronics supply chain dropped to a value of US$2.5 billion in the first quarter, down 40.5 percent from its peak of US$4.2 billion in the third quarter of last year, according to market researcher iSuppli.Newspapers in Taiwan report that TSMC has gained new chip orders recently, mainly for high performance graphics chips. TSMC does not officially comment on customer orders, and the news reports do not name any sources for the information provided. Correction: This story as originally posted incorrectly correlated TSMC’s unconsolidated first quarter revenue to its stated guidance. The company’s Q1 guidance referred to consolidated revenue, and by that measure TSMC beat the forecast. The article has been amended. Technology Industry