Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) projected current-quarter revenue ahead of estimates, as the Apple supplier shrugs off a smartphone slump and U.S. sanctions on Huawei Technologies to ride demand for cutting-edge chips.

The world’s largest contract chipmaker expects sales of $9.1 billion to $9.2 billion in the September quarter, ahead of average projections for about $8.9 billion. The Taiwanese company earlier reported a fall in June-quarter net income to NT$66.8 billion ($2.1 billion), surpassing the NT$65.7 billion estimated.

“We have passed the bottom of the cycle of our business, and should see our demand increase,” TSMC's Chief Executive Officer C. C. Wei said. “We see very, very strong demand” in the second half of 2019.

Orders for crypto-mining gear are expected to help TSMC’s third-quarter sales. The typical year-end ramp up of iPhone manufacturing and a new chip-product cycle from AMD could also buoy the top line. The trade spat between Japan and South Korea may also help TSMC, as Samsung Electronics customers such as Qualcomm may seek to diversify.

TSMC saw sales drop 4.5% year-on-year in the first half, as a result of a slowing global smartphone market and efforts by its biggest customer Apple to move beyond hardware. Then the trade war escalated into the U.S. blacklisting Huawei, TSMC’s second-largest customer.

However, the company's leading position in advanced technology, especially in 5G and artificial intelligence, helped it secure revenue.