Taiwanese Chip Makers TSMC, UMC Post 1Q Sales Decline
By Terho Uimonen
Staff Reporter DJ wire
TAIPEI -- Two of Taiwan's largest chip makers are seeing sales slump because of a global slowdown in semiconductor demand.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and United Microelectronics Corp. saw accumulated sales for the first three months of the year drop by 27% and 26%, respectively, from last year's fourth quarter, the world's two largest contract chip makers said Monday. The latest figures mark the first quarterly sales decline for the companies since 1998.
TSMC reported first-quarter sales of NT$39.52 billion (US$1.2 billion), up 40% from NT$28.28 billion a year earlier but down 27% from NT$53.82 billion in the fourth quarter. UMC, meanwhile, said first-quarter sales rose 22% to NT$23.59 billion from NT$19.31 billion a year earlier. Compared with the fourth quarter, however, UMC's sales were down 26% from NT$31.85 billion.
Things are getting worse rather than better, the companies' sales reports suggest. UMC said March sales declined 4.5% to NT$6.59 billion, from NT$6.90 billion a year earlier -- following yearly increases in January and February. The annual growth rate of monthly sales is also slowing at TSMC, but the chip maker's March sales still rose an annualized 18% to NT$11.75 billion.
The results were largely in line with lowered expectations. TSMC last month said first-quarter sales would come in 26% below the fourth quarter, slightly worse than a previous estimate of a 25% quarterly decline.
Both companies issued only brief statements that didn't include the outlook for their businesses. A TSMC spokeswoman declined to give any forecasts, saying only that the company will provide an updated outlook at an investors conference later this month in Taipei. A UMC spokesman also declined to provide guidance for future results.
A month ago, TSMC was still predicting that the overall trend for the semiconductor industry would bottom out in the second half and then gradually improve. |
