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UMC expects 2-4% shipment increase in 3Q19
Jessie Shen, DIGITIMES, Taipei
Thursday 25 July 2019
Pure-play foundry United Microelectronics (UMC) expects to post a 2-4% shipment increase sequentially in the third quarter of 2019, with a 1% rise in wafer ASPs.
"Despite US-China trade tensions creating market uncertainty, we anticipate that specific areas within the wireless communication sector will have a short term upward adjustment in the supply chain, which should lead to a slight increase in wafer demand," said company co-president Jason Wang.
UMC disclosed its foundry revenues climbed 10.6% sequentially to NT$36 billion (US$1.16 billion) in the second quarter, with operating margin reaching 5.3%. The company utilized 88% of its foundry capacity in the second quarter, when it shipped about 1.73 million 8-inch equivalent wafers.
"2Q19 results reflected higher contribution from 12-inch technology nodes, which experienced strength from the wireless communication segment including chips found in entry level to mid-end smartphones, switches and routers," Wang continued.
UMC saw sales generated from 28nm and below process technologies account for 13% of total wafer sales in the second quarter, up from 10% in the prior quarter. The proportion was lower than 18% during the same period in 2018, however.
Sales generated from the communication segment accounted for 52% of UMC's total wafer sales in the second quarter of 2019, up from 48% in the prior quarter and 47% a year earlier.
UMC's fab utilization rate during the second quarter was higher than 83% in the previous quarter, when the company saw its gross margin climb 8.8pp on quarter to 15.7%. UMC managed to swing to operating profits of NT$1.76 billion from losses in the first quarter.
UMC generated net profits of NT$1.74 billion in the second quarter, up 44.9% sequentially, with EPS coming to NT$0.15.
UMC's net profits for the first half of 2019 totaled NT$2.94 billion, down 58.3% on year. EPS for the six-month period came to NT$0.25.
"We have observed that customers are continuing to manage their inventory carefully amid a weakened global economic environment, which may contribute to lower visibility in business forecast during the second half of 2019," Wang noted.
digitimes.com |
