Taipei, May 6, 2010 (CENS)--Against a backdrop of robust market growth, institutional investors estimate Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) should have revenue of US$1 billion while United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) should have US$296 million last month, both new highs.

Executives of TSMC, currently the world's No.1 silicon foundry, and executives of TSMC-held Vanguard Semiconductor International Corp. (VISC) have said they are bullish about market outlook of this quarter.

In this March, TSMC had revenue of NT$31.9 billion (US$996 million) while UMC had NT$9.48 billion (US$296 million), hitting second high in company history and up 9.79% from a month earlier, respectively.

TSMC has set its revenue for this quarter at NT$100-102 billion (US$3.12-3.18 billion), up from NT$92.19 billion (US$2.8 billion) a year earlier. UMC has projected its revenue for this quarter to rise 6-9% from last quarter`s NT$26.7 billion (US$834 million).

Foreign institutional investors point out capacity at TSMC's 200-mm fabs and 300-mm fabs will remain strained throughout this quarter. The company ended first quarter with 14% of its production on 40-nm process, which is expected to increase to 15% into this quarter.

Last quarter alone, UMC shipped 1.03 million 200mm equivalent of wafers, up 2% from a quarter earlier, while TSMC's shipment was double the UMC's in the meantime.

(by Ken Liu)

Source : cens.com