TSMC, UMC tumble on chip downturn

By Staff and wire reports

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Taiwan's leading chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) announced March sales of $357 million, in line with its forecast of a 26 percent sales slide.

Rival United Microelectronics (UMC) says sales in the first quarter of the year also fell 26 percent from the last three months of 2000.

TSMC chairman Morris Chang forecasts the company's sales to bottom out in March or April, remain flat in the second quarter, and resume growth in the rest of the year.

Sales slide 26 percent

March revenues for TSMC, which were up 18.3 percent from the same month last year, brought first quarter sales to $1.2 billion, off 26.6 percent from $1.6 billion in the final three months of 2000.

TSMC adjusted its forecast of a 25 percent sequential decline in the first quarter to 26 percent after reporting February sales last month.

UMC, the world's second largest contract microchip maker after TSMC, said on Monday its sales in March totaled $200 million, down 4.52 percent year on year.

That brought the chipmaker's sales in the first quarter of the year to $716.5 million, a 22.16 rise from the same 2000 period, but a 26 percent drop from the fourth quarter last year.

On Monday, TSMC shares fell T$2.50, or three percent, to close at T$80, while UMC shares finished down T$1.50, or three percent, at T$48, compared with a 2.05 percent fall on the main TAIEX index.

"In spite of the market downturn, TSMC continues in its efforts to provide customers with more advanced technologies and new services," says spokeswoman K.C. Chen in a TSMC statement, citing orders for high-end copper process microchips.

Copper circuitry on microchips conducts electricity better than aluminium circuits, the current standard, and allows engineers to make chips even smaller.

TSMC's March sales were up 1.2 percent from February's $352.6 million, and refuted Taiwanese newspaper forecasts that sales fell below $300 million last month.

Reuters contributed to this report.

TSMC
UMC

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