Taiwan's foundry sales slip again in May, but TSMC says Q2 is 'bottom'
Semiconductor Business News
(06/08/01 09:49 a.m. EST)
Hsinchu, Taiwan -- As expected, the world's two largest silicon foundries here today posted sequentially lower sales for May compared to April, but Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. said the second quarter still appears to be the bottom of the current downturn.
TSMC, the largest foundry company, said its net sales dropped 7.4% to NT$8.551 billion ($252 million) in May compared to NT$9.232 billion ($272 million) in April. TSMC's sales last month were 21.8% lower than NT$10.934 billion ($322 million) in May 2000.
United Microelectronics Corp.--the No. 2 pure-play silicon foundry--reported that its net sales sequentially dropped 14.9% to NT$4.950 billion ($146 million) in May compared to NT$5.818 billion ($171 million) in April. On a year-to-year basis, UMC's sales were down 40% from NT$8.254 billion ($243 million).
Previously, both TSMC and UMC have predicted that Q2 sales would decline 25-to-30% from the first quarter as foundry utilization rates drop to the 50-60% range. Officials at both companies have called this downturn the worst in silicon foundry history.
However, a spokeswoman for TSMC today said the foundry giant still believes the second quarter will be the bottom of the current recession, based on its bookings for April and May. Despite a great deal of uncertainty about the second half of 2001, TSMC still believes the outlook will improve, she said.
For the first five months of 2001, TSMC's net sales have grown 19.2% to a total of NT$57.303 billion ($1.685 billion) compared to NT$48.075 ($1.414 billion) last year. UMC said its sales in the first five months of 2001 have dropped 1.65% to NT$34.360 billion ($1.011 billion) vs. NT$34.938 billion ($1.028 billion) in the January-May period last year. |
