TSMC has made its full recovery after being hit by a computer virus, said company CEO CC Wei at a press event on August 6. The impact on its third-quarter revenues is expected to be less than 2% compared with the 3% estimated previously, according to Wei.

The identified computer virus was a variant of WannaCry, said Wei, adding that the virus infected computer systems and fab equipment and forced the company to bring several fabs including its major 12-inch ones offline. However, TSMC has managed to fully recover its fab operations, Wei noted.

The fab tools, automated handling systems and other equipment infected, all run unpatched Windows 7, Wei continued.

TSMC's production information and customer data were all safe and not hit by the virus incident, Wei claimed.

The event will affect negatively TSMC's third-quarter results, but will have a less-than-expected impact, Wei said. The company now expects the impact on its third-quarter revenues to be less than 2%, but holds its previous estimate that the impact on gross margin during the quarter will be 1pp.

Wei reiterated TSMC is confident shipments delayed in the third quarter will be recovered in the fourth quarter.

An estimated NT$5.2 billion (US$170 million) of TSMC's third-quarter revenues will be eliminated due to the virus impact, according to market watchers. The incident will also likely drag down TSMC's profits this year though the company maintained its forecast of high single-digit revenue growth for the year, the watchers said.

TSMC CFO Lora Ho said the company is striving for profit growth in 2018, but admitted additional costs resulted from the virus incident will hit its gross margin and profitability.