taipeitimes.com, Dec. 08, 2020 –
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.
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.