UMC March sales rise 17% from February, TSMC down 6%

By Ann Steffora Mutschler, Senior Editor -- 4/11/2008

Still feeling the effects of weak demand and oversupply issues in the memory supply chain, Hsinchu, Taiwan-based semiconductor foundry giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC) today announced net sales for March on an unconsolidated basis were $876.4 million (26.6 billion New Taiwanese dollars), down 6.4% sequentially from February, but up 21.2% over March 2007.

TSMC revenues for January through March totaled $2.8 billion (85.2 billion NT), 34.5% higher than the same period in 2007.

On a consolidated basis, TSMC’s net sales for March were $894.1 million (27.1 billion NT), down 7.4% sequentially from February but 20.2% higher than March 2007. TSMC’s consolidated revenues for January through March totaled $2.9 billion (87.5 billion NT), an increase of 34.8% compared to the same period in 2007.

Meanwhile, Taiwan-based foundry challenger United Microelectronics Corp (UMC) reported March revenues of $280.4 million (8.5 billion NT), a 12.6% rise over $249.1 million (7.5 billion NT) in March 2007, and up 16.6% from $240.5 million (7.3 billion NT) in February.

For the first three months of the year, UMC’s revenues totaled $791.9 million (24 billion NT), a 4.2% increase over $759.7 million (23 billion NT) for the same time period last year.

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