Taiwan Chipmaker UMC Says China Ban Spurs Demand

A shift away from made-in-China chips amid Sino-US tensions has opened up capacity that some customers are happy to use, Taiwanese chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC) said, Sarah Wu and Bern Blanchard reported for Reuters.

Photo Insert: UMC, whose clients include U.S. company Qualcomm Inc and Germany's Infineon, reported a 14.5% year-on-year fall in first-quarter revenue to T$54.2 billion ($1.77 billion).

Western companies are reviewing their supply chains and reliance on China as a manufacturing base, with Washington stepping up curbs in particular aimed at hobbling Beijing's chip ambitions and slowing its technological and military advances.

Asked about US and European chip designers shifting orders away from Chinese factories, UMC co-President Jason Wang said their customers were starting to "evaluate their supply chain resilience."

UMC could benefit from that, given the company makes chips in Taiwan, China, Singapore and Japan, Wang added.

"We are seeing some customers are moving products to other locations outside of China, but at the same time we also see some customers asking to take advantage of the China gap that creates," he said, without naming the companies.

UMC, whose clients include U.S. company Qualcomm Inc and Germany's Infineon, reported a 14.5% year-on-year fall in first-quarter revenue to T$54.2 billion ($1.77 billion), down 20.1% from the previous quarter with wafer shipments dropping 17.5% quarter-on-quarter.

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