Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd's net income in the third quarter slipped from the prior-year period but beat estimates.

The Taiwanese semiconductor giant's net income attributable to shareholders of the parent dipped 0.9% to NT$89.07 billion, or NT$3.44 per share, in the quarter that ended Sept. 30 from NT$89.93 billion, or NT$3.47 per share, in the year-ago period. The S&P Global Market Intelligence consensus normalized EPS estimate for the third quarter was NT$3.42.

Net revenue climbed 3.3% year over year to NT$260.35 billion from NT$252.11 billion.

Operating income slipped 2.9% to NT$95.25 billion in the third quarter from NT$98.06 billion as operating margin fell to 36.6% from 38.9%.

TSMC, which supplies iPhone chips for Apple Inc., noted that the computer virus incident that disrupted production on Aug. 3 offset the positive impact of a more favorable exchange rate on gross margin, which declined to 47.4% from 47.8% in the second quarter.

As of Oct. 17, US$1 was equivalent to NT$30.87.