UMC profits in Q3, sees tougher Q4 as opportunity
By Peter Clarke
Semiconductor Business News
(10/30/02 07:20 a.m. EST)
siliconstrategies.com
TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Sales for the third quarter of 2002 at United Microelectronics Corp., the world's second largest foundry manufacturer of integrated circuits, have increased sequentially 3.1% to about $548 million and increased 60.2% versus the same quarter a year earlier. The company turned in a profit compared with loss a year earlier.
The giant leap in sales from a year ago was mainly due to the poor nature of UMC's year-ago figures. Also, the third quarter 2002 net income of about $41 million was a 68% sequential decrease mainly due to a drop in non-operating income, the company said.
As well as recording a declining profit the company indicated in its forecasts that the immediate prospects look difficult.
UMC's capacity utilization dropped from 72% in the second quarter to 68% in the third quarter and is predicted to fall to the high 50% range in the fourth quarter. In addition, wafer shipments are expected to decline about seven percent while wafer average selling prices are expected to decline between 3% and 5% in the fourth quarter.
The company has cut estimates for its 2002 capital expenditure by 38%, from $1.3 billion to $800 million and is deferring growth in capacity until later in 2003.
John Hsuan, UMC vice chairman and chief executive officer, presented the news with a positive slant saying in a statement that a weakening market is an opportunity for UMC to attract integrated device manufacturers as customers as they follow either a fab-lite strategy, or increase their outsourcing.
"UMC's revenue grew 3.1 percent sequentially after an impressive 52.8 percent quarter-on-quarter improvement in the second quarter of 2002," said Hsuan in the statement. "New customer wins and increasing demand for leading-edge technology were some of the key drivers behind our third quarter performance."
"0.13-micron sales showed continued increases following the volume ramp-up of new customer products and this trend is expected to continue in the foreseeable future. We also currently possess the foundry industry's largest 300-mm wafer capacity, and have shipped the largest quantity of logic ICs produced on 300-mm wafers. We have achieved equal or better yields for all products that are commercially fabricated on 300-mm wafers compared to those manufactured in our 200-mm facilities.” |
