www.digitimes.com, Nov. 26, 2019 –
UMC, once a strong rival of TSMC in the pure-play foundry sector, has now quit the expensive race of advancing manufacturing nodes. UMC has redefined its roles, focusing on specialty segments. Digitimes recently talked to its co-presidents, the architects of the transformation, to understand more about the company's changes, plans and goals. Meanwhile, TSMC is clearly the market leader, with its 7nm production capacity running tight. Operation at TSMC's fab in Nanjing, China also returned to profitability in the third quarter.
In the IT sector, notebook vendors have yet to determine the best way to avoid the US tariffs on China-imported products. A likely option is to have China facilities do only the final assembly of notebooks.