TSMC, UMC continue modest growth recovery

By Colleen Taylor, Contributing Editor -- Electronic News, 5/10/2007

Continuing to show signs of regained strength after a months-long slump, foundry leader Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) posted another modest rise in sales for April.

TSMC today announced unconsolidated net sales for the month of $677 million (22.5 billion new Taiwanese dollars), up 2.7 percent over March but but still down 17.1 percent from April 2006. The company still has a way to go before it is back to its old self: revenues for January through April 2007 totaled $2.58 billion ( 85.85 billion NT), a decrease of 17.8 percent compared to the same period in 2006.

Rival Taiwan-based foundry United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) also posted slightly stronger April revenues after a similarly disappointing string of tepid monthly reports. The company reported unconsolidated net revenues of $244.6 million ( 8.13 billion NT) for April, up 7.7 percent from March but down 3.92 percent year-over-year from April 2006.

Although the industry overall is beginning to bounce back after suffering from last fall's excess inventories, a number of analysts have trimmed their forecasts in recent weeks to reflect considerably less optimism for the industry's 2007 financial performance.