UMC's November sales stay strong, on monthly, yearly basis
By Peter Clarke
Silicon Strategies
12/09/2003, 6:28 AM ET
TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Foundry chip supplier United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) reported its November 2003 net sales Tuesday (December 9, 2003) at NT$7,701 million (about US$227 million), up 0.5 percent from October 2003 sales and up by 28.3 percent over November 2002.
In the first eleven months of 2003 UMC achieved net sales of NT$76,510 (about US$2.25 billion), an advance of 23.56 percent over the same period in 2002, the foundry said.
Typically November and December are relatively quiet months with most of the purchasing for holiday season equipment already done, but UMC's even results with a buoyant October slightly outshone rival foundry Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd., which posted a 26.9 percent year-on-year gain but an 8.8 percent month-on-month decline (see December 9 story).
The stronger showing by UMC and TSMC's monthly decline was expected by analysts (see December 3 story).
With the pipeline now stocked with electronic equipment for consumers to purchase, companies are waiting to see if the offerings and their price-points are attractive and whether a product replacement cycle can drive first quarter growth. If companies' equipment is the 'wrong stuff' or priced too expensively, it will linger prompting delayed and cancelled orders to the chip companies and foundries. |
