Orders for September up at TSMC and UMC
Coming into the traditional peak season for PCs and consumer electronics, leading foundries Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) saw slight growth in orders received for September, each reporting increases of around 10,000 wafers from August.
Affected by the global economic slowdown and chip stockpiles, utilization rates in foundries slid all the way from 70% in the first quarter to below 40% in the beginning of the third. But now signs of an upswing seem to be slowly emerging.
Sources from within the semiconductor industry pointed out that TSMC’s shipments in September are expected to reach 140,000 wafers, growing from 130,000 in July and August. Although the company’s July shipments dropped from June’s 140,000 wafers, its production based on 0.13 and 0.15-micron geometry has been increasing since July, as the company’s clients gradually adopt the advanced technology. So far, TSMC has shipped about 6,000 0.15-micron-processed wafers and 1,000 0.13-micron-based products, mainly for graphics chips and microprocessors.
Industry sources said that UMC’s August orders increased by 15% from July, and the company received orders for about 10,000 more wafers in September than in the previous month.
Despite the growth, companies from the semiconductor industry also noted that it will be difficult for foundries to achieve great improvement in their utilization rates. IC design houses like Altera and Xilinx have been wary about placing large orders, due to their excessive inventories and weak market conditions, while IDMs (integrated device manufacturers) have also been reluctant to outsource production, since they’re own production lines are running at much less than full capacity. |
