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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: michael97123 who wrote (48908)	7/9/2001 1:41:43 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

TSMC sees 'stabilization' in June foundry sales, but UMC reports 14% drop from May 'Positive signs of gradual improvement' now seen at TSMC, says spokeswoman Semiconductor Business News (07/09/01 08:50 a.m. EST) HSINCHU, Taiwan -- Weak demand for wafer-processing services once again eroded silicon foundry revenues at the world's two largest suppliers here last month, but Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. today said it believes June sales "indicated stabilization." Moreover, a spokeswoman for TSMC said the world's largest silicon foundry company "has seen positive signs of gradual improvement for the second half of 2001." In June, TSMC's net sales totaled NT$8.5 billion ($247 million), which was sequentially flat with revenues in May, but 29.1% lower than NT$12.0 billion ($348 million) in June 2000. The sequentially flat sales figure for June is good news for TSMC, which has saw month-to-month revenue declines in May and April. The worst of the drop occurred in April, when TSMC's sales plunged 21.4% from March. TSMC now expects to report net sales declined 33% in the second quarter, ended June 30, compared to NT$39.5 billion ($1.15 billion) in the first quarter of 2001, but the company still earned a "modest profit" in operating and net income, said spokeswoman K.C. Chen today. Meanwhile, United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) also today reported June revenues, but the world's second largest silicon foundry company said its sales sequentially dropped 14.4% to NT$4.2 billion ($123 million) from NT$4.9 billion ($143 million) in May. Compared to a year ago, UMC's sales were 51.95% lower than NT$8.8 billion ($256 million) in June 2000. UMC did not issue a statement about the market conditions or its second-quarter financial results while releasing June sales figures today. Last week, UMC said it might temporarily close one or more of its wafer fabs in Taiwan if the industry downturn gets worse (see July 3 story). Both UMC and TSMC--along with competitors worldwide--are suffering through the worst downturn ever in the silicon foundry business. Foundry capacity utilization rates have plunged from what was above 95% late last year to as low as 30-to-50% in most fabs, according to company reports and industry analysts. In the first half of 2001, TSMC's net sales have increased 9.5% to NT$65.8 billion ($1.91 billion) compared to NT$60.1 billion ($1.74 billion), while UMC's revenues have dropped 11.8% to NT$38.6 billion ($1.12 billion) in the first six months of this year vs. NT$43.8 billion ($1.27 billion) in the first half of 2000.