It seems like barely a week passes by without new stories concerning shortages of tech products like CPUs, graphics cards, or games consoles. A lot of the problem is due to the unrelenting demand for contract chipmaker output from the likes of TSMC and Samsung. These chipmakers are struggling to keep up with demand, and bringing online further capacity takes considerable time, investment, and could mean they get paid less for their output.
Today reports suggest automakers are looking to throw petrol on the fire burning through the available output from these contract chipmakers. Reports published by the likes of Reuters and Nikkei Asia say that four of the biggest Taiwanese chipmakers met with the country s economics minister on Wednesday to hear a request from automakers from around the globe. This meeting was preceded by the German Minister of Economic Affairs requesting help, from Taiwan s Ministry of Economic Affairs, to improve the flow of chips to the auto sector.
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United Microelectronics Corp (NYSE: UMC) reports Q4 GAAP EPS of $0.162, which beat analyst consensus by $0.10.
Revenue of $1.59 billion beats by $20 million.
Q4 Gross margin of 23.9% increased by 720 bps year-over-year, and operating margin of 12.4% increased by 760 bps Y/Y.
UMC hit a capacity utilization rate of 99%, raising wafer shipments to 2.3 million 8-inch equivalents.
UMC expects strong demand for wafer chips in 2021 and will continue with a capital expenditure budget of $1.5 billion. Looking into the first quarter, stable demand outlook will lead to an incremental increase in wafer shipments and blended ASP in USD. However, due to the continuing unfavorable foreign exchange rate, we anticipate the appreciation of the NT dollar will offset more than half of the implied growth projected for 1Q, co-President Jason Wang said.
Four major Taiwanese chip makers met the island’s economics minister on Wednesday and told her they were willing to prioritise supplies for auto makers amid a global shortage of chips for the industry, the minister said.
It seems like barely a week passes by without new stories concerning shortages of tech products like CPUs, graphics cards, or games consoles. A lot of the problem is due to the unrelenting demand for contract chipmaker output from the likes of TSMC and Samsung. These chipmakers are struggling to keep up with demand, and bringing online further capacity takes considerable time, investment, and could mean they get paid less for their output.
Today reports suggest automakers are looking to throw petrol on the fire burning through the available output from these contract chipmakers. Reports published by the likes of Reuters and Nikkei Asia say that four of the biggest Taiwanese chipmakers met with the country s economics minister on Wednesday to hear a request from automakers from around the globe. This meeting was preceded by the German Minister of Economic Affairs requesting help, from Taiwan s Ministry of Economic Affairs, to improve the flow of chips to the auto sector.