A week after its bigger rival’s move, United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) yesterday lowered its fourth-quarter outlook as the economic downturn weighed on market demand.
With sales continuing to fall last month, UMC said in a statement that fourth-quarter revenue would be between NT$18.2 billion and NT$18.7 billion (US$542.6 million and US$557.5 million), compared with its previous guidance of sales of NT$19.5 billion announced on Oct. 29.
UMC also cut its gross profit margin forecast for the October-to-December period to between 7 percent and 9 percent, down from its estimate of 10 percent.
It did not say whether it would adjust its estimates on wafer shipments or utilization rate for the current quarter. On Oct. 29, UMC said it expected a 25 percent decline in wafer shipments this quarter from the July-to-September period, while its utilization rate would drop to approximately 55 percent from some 80 percent in the first half.
However, it said that operating income would remain in the black for the full year, despite posting losses of NT$1.41 billion in the third quarter — the first quarterly loss since 2001.
UMC’s revenue dropped 33.3 percent year-on-year to NT$6 billion last month, the company said in yesterday’s statement.
The figures were also 23.8 percent lower than October’s NT$7.9 billion.
Based on UMC’s revised fourth-quarter guidance, the company could post revenue of between NT$4.3 billion and NT$4.8 billion this month, representing a decline of between 20 percent and 28 percent from last month.
Shares of UMC have slumped 64.8 percent so far this year to close at NT$7.09 yesterday, underperforming the benchmark index’s 47.4 percent drop, stock exchange data showed.
The company’s fourth-quarter outlook revision followed similar moves by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) last week and Texas Instrument Inc on Monday.
On Dec. 1, TSMC cut its fourth-quarter revenue forecast by 8.6 percent to between NT$63 billion and NT$65 billion, from a former estimate of between NT$69 billion and NT$71 billion made on Oct. 30.
Overnight, the second-largest US chipmaker Texas Instruments said it predicted fourth-quarter revenue would reach between US$2.3 billion and US$2.5 billion, down from its previous estimate of between US$2.83 billion and US$3.07 billion.
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