Posted on Wednesday, February 11 2009 @ 0:45 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
Taiwanese foundry UMC posted a net loss of NT$23.51 billion ($717 million) on a revenue of NT$18.54 billion ($566 million) in the fourth quarter of 2008. Revenue was down 32.9 percent year-over-year as the firms' utilization rate dropped from 86 percent in Q4 2007 to 48 percent:
"Customers still remain conservative about end market demand and are strictly controlling their purchase orders and inventory levels. However, UMC's internal indicators have shown signs that the demand drop may have bottomed out, and we are closely watching for signs of recovery," said Shih-Wei Sun, CEO of UMC, in a statement.
Sun said UMC's R&D for advanced technologies remains on schedule as planned.
UMC's fourth quarter capacity utilization rate fell to 48 percent, down from 79 percent in the third quarter and 86 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007.
In the fourth quarter, 90-nm products accounted for the largest chunk of UMC's revenue, 27 percent. For the year, the company derived 30 percent of its revenue from 90-nm products.
More info
at EE Times.
