Taipei - Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (TSMC), the world's largest contract chip maker, saw its November sales fall nearly 40 per cent year-on-year due to the global slump, the company said Wednesday.

In November, TSMC sales totalled 19.3 billion Taiwan dollars (585 million US dollars), down 32 per cent from October and down 36 per cent from November 2007, the firm said in a statement.

January-November revenues totaled 308.6 billion Taiwan dollars, up 8.5 per cent from the same period of 2007.

TSMC's November financial report came a few days after the firm had revised down its fourth-quarter production target owing to the global recession.

The company issued its previous fourth-quarter output forecast on October 30 when it was optimistic about fourth-quarter performance. (dpa)