United Microelectronics Co (UMC, 聯電) is expected to overtake GlobalFoundries Inc as the world’s third-largest foundry this quarter, as strong demand for display driver and power management chips is estimated to help drive its revenue up 13 percent, market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday.
UMC would see its revenue expand to US$1.57 billion this quarter from a year earlier, with a global market share of 6.9 percent, compared with GlobalFoundries’ estimated revenue of US$1.49 billion, with a market share of 6.6 percent, the Taipei-based researcher said.
TrendForce attributed the growth to rising customer orders for display driver, power management and Internet of Things chips.
Photo: David Chang, EPA-EFE
That would boost the utilization rate at UMC’s 8-inch factories and its chip prices, as well as its shipments of 28-nanometer chips, TrendForce said.
GlobalFoundries is streamlining its factory operations, after selling an 8-inch fab in Singapore to Taiwan’s Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) at the end of last year for US$236 million.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) is expected to retain its top position, with revenue forecast to surge 21 percent year-on-year to US$12.55 billion this quarter and a market share of 55.6 percent.
Samsung Electronics Co would rank fourth, with revenue likely to expand 16.4 percent to US$3.72 billion and a 16.4 percent market share, TrendForce said.
Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯國際), the biggest chipmaker in China, would rank fifth, with a market share of 4.3 percent, as its revenue is predicted to grow 15 percent to US$963 million this quarter, benefiting from rising demand for radio frequency and power management chips, TrendForce said.
However, SMIC’s revenue this quarter would decline 11 percent quarter-on-quarter, as it was forced to stop shipping chips to HiSilicon Technologies Co (海思), the chip designing arm of Huawei Technologies Co (華為), from Sept. 14.
SMIC was also added to a US blacklist due to its ties with the Chinese military.
Tower Semiconductor Ltd, which sells chips under the Tower Jazz brand, seized the sixth spot with revenue of US$340 million, up 11 percent from a year earlier. The Israeli company is expected to have a market share of 1.5 percent this quarter.
Taiwan’s Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (力積電) and Vanguard ranked seventh and eighth, with revenue growing 28 percent and 24 percent to US$312 million and US$297 million respectively this quarter, TrendForce said.
The two firms would have market shares of 1.4 percent and 1.3 percent respectively, it said.
Semiconductor business between Taiwan and the US is a “win-win” model for both sides given the high level of complementarity, the government said yesterday responding to tariff threats from US President Donald Trump. Home to the world’s largest contract chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), Taiwan is a key link in the global technology supply chain for companies such as Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp. Trump said on Monday he plans to impose tariffs on imported chips, pharmaceuticals and steel in an effort to get the producers to make them in the US. “Taiwan and the US semiconductor and other technology industries
SMALL AND EFFICIENT: The Chinese AI app’s initial success has spurred worries in the US that its tech giants’ massive AI spending needs re-evaluation, a market strategist said Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) start-up DeepSeek’s (深度求索) eponymous AI assistant rocketed to the top of Apple Inc’s iPhone download charts, stirring doubts in Silicon Valley about the strength of the US’ technological dominance. The app’s underlying AI model is widely seen as competitive with OpenAI and Meta Platforms Inc’s latest. Its claim that it cost much less to train and develop triggered share moves across Asia’s supply chain. Chinese tech firms linked to DeepSeek, such as Iflytek Co (科大訊飛), surged yesterday, while chipmaking tool makers like Advantest Corp slumped on the potential threat to demand for Nvidia Corp’s AI accelerators. US stock
The US Federal Reserve is expected to announce a pause in rate cuts on Wednesday, as policymakers look to continue tackling inflation under close and vocal scrutiny from US President Donald Trump. The Fed cut its key lending rate by a full percentage point in the final four months of last year and indicated it would move more cautiously going forward amid an uptick in inflation away from its long-term target of 2 percent. “I think they will do nothing, and I think they should do nothing,” Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis former president Jim Bullard said. “I think the
SUBSIDIES: The nominee for commerce secretary indicated the Trump administration wants to put its stamp on the plan, but not unravel it entirely US President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the agency in charge of a US$52 billion semiconductor subsidy program declined to give it unqualified support, raising questions about the disbursement of funds to companies like Intel Corp and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電). “I can’t say that I can honor something I haven’t read,” Howard Lutnick, Trump’s nominee for commerce secretary, said of the binding CHIPS and Science Act awards in a confirmation hearing on Wednesday. “To the extent monies have been disbursed, I would commit to rigorously enforcing documents that have been signed by those companies to make sure we get
RSS