Taipei, Nov. 1, 2012 (CENS)-- United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) will see wafer shipment slip 7-9% in the fourth quarter from the third quarter, revenue drop 5-7%, capacity utilization rate fall to 75-79% from last quarter’s 84% and gross margin sink to 17-19% from last quarter’s 24%, according to company chairman, S.W. Sun.
At an institutional investors conference held yesterday. Sun pointed out that the silicon foundry industry will experience inventory adjustments among customers between this quarter and the next, a comment similar to that made by the world’s No.1 foundry Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC). He estimated the momentum for this industry will be determined by macro economy and end-user market.
Sun said the company’s 28nm process capacity began generating revenue in the third quarter although the volume remained insignificant. The company attainted the goal of generating 15% of revenue out of 40nm process service earlier than projected in September. Revenue from 40nm process rose to account for 13% of the company’s total revenue for the third quarter, up from the second-quarter’s 9%.
The company scored revenue of NT$28.5 billion (US$983 million at US$1:NT$29) in the third quarter, up 3.3% from the previous quarter. Nevertheless, its gross margin lost 0.4 of a percentage from a quarter earlier and its after-tax net income of NT$2.4 billion (US$83 million), or NT$0.19 per share, represented a 19.2% dip from the previous quarter.
In the Jan.-Sept. period of this year, the company had total revenue of NT$79.9 billion (US$2.7 billion), sinking 1.9% year on year, and gross margin of 22.7%, off 1.2 percentage points from the same period of last year. Its after-tax net income was NT$6.7 billion (US$232 million), or NT$0.53 per share, for the first nine months this year, falling 30% year on year.
Sun pointed out that baseband chip and wireless chip remain the strongest market for the foundry industry.
(by Ken Liu)
