UMC reports October sales rise

LONDON – Foundry chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp. has posted a sequential sales increase in October that provides some further, albeit slight, evidence of an upturn in the semiconductor market.

October sales at UMC (Hsinchu, Taiwan) were NT$8.26 billion (about $274 million) up about 1 percent on its sales in September 2011 but down about 23 percent on sales in October 2010. UMC's year-to-date sales were NT$89.71 billion (about $2.99 billion), down about 10 percent on the company's sales in the equivalent period in 2010.

Despite showing UMC to be far behind its 2010 position, the October sales provide some positive pointers for the company. The sales reflected UMC's first monthly sequential increase since March 2011 and after six months of sequential falls. The 1 percent sequential increase came in a month that usually shows a sequential decline. For UMC October sales have, on average over the previous decade, been 1.2 percent lower than September sales.


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