Taiwanese chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC) has reported a 21.9 percent drop in second-quarter revenue to T$56.3 billion ($1.80 billion).
UMC’s clients include U.S. company Qualcomm and Germany’s Infineon.

UMC has generated 44 percent of its sales from Communications, 26 percent from Consumer, 9 percent from Computer and 21 percent from Others.

UMC has generated 56 percent of its sales from Asia, 27 percent from North America, 12 percent from Japan and 5 percent from Japan.

UMC said it sees “uncertain” demand in the third quarter but stuck to its 2023 capital spending plans as its gears up to meet customer demand for artificial intelligence (AI).

The semiconductor industry has come under pressure as global economic woes dent demand for chips used in everything from cars to smartphones.

UMC’s bigger Taiwanese rival TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, last week forecast a drop of around 10 percent in 2023 sales and flagged investment spending at the low end of estimates.

UMC co-President Jason Wang said while they had seen spots of limited recovery in the second quarter, overall end market sentiment remained weak.

“Looking into the third quarter, wafer demand outlook is uncertain given prolonged inventory correction in the supply chain,” Jason Wang said.

However, the company kept its guidance for capital spending this year at $3 billion, compared with $2.7 billion for last year.

“We are gearing up to offer the necessary silicon interposer technology and capacity to fulfill emerging AI market demand from customers,” Jason Wang said.

Wafer shipments were flat quarter-on-quarter, while capacity utilisation edged up to 71 percent from 70 percent in the first quarter.