The global IC foundry market sector is set to log a 5% increase in 2016 while the overall semiconductor market will grow by a smaller 2%. TSMC's growth will continue to outperform the industry average, according to company co-CEO Mark Liu.

TSMC expects to post a 5-10% revenue increase in 2016, said Liu. The forecast, however, is less-optimistic compared to an at least double-digit increase Liu predicted previously.

Smartphones will continue to provide growth momentum for TSMC in 2016, Liu added.

Nevertheless, many research firms believe that smartphone sales are saturating in developed markets and growth in emerging markets is decelerating. TSMC's forecast of smartphone shipment growth for 2016 is 8%.

TSMC also predicted global 2016 shipments of PCs, tablets and consumer electronics devices will decrease 3%, 7% and 5%, respectively.

TSMC reported net profits of NT$306.57 billion on consolidated revenues of NT$843.5 billion for 2015. Both results hit the highest levels in the company's history. EPS rose to a record NT$11.82 in 2015 from NT$10.18 in 2014.

However, TSMC's gross margin for 2015 fell 0.8pp from a year earlier to 48.7%.

In addition, TSMC's capex will reach US$9-10 billion in 2016 from US$8 billion in 2015, according to company CFO Lora Ho. Capex for 2016 will be used mainly for the development of the foundry's 10nm and more advanced process technologies, and backend services such as InFO wafer-level packaging, and construction of a new fab in Nanjing, China, said Ho.