Online information source for semiconductor professionals
UMC keeps capital expenditures at US$1.8 billion
Popular articles
New Product: Applied Materials new EUV reticle etch system provides nanometer-level accuracy - 19 September 2011
Oberai discusses Magma’s move into solar PV yield management space - 29 August 2008
â??Velocityâ?? the new buzzword in Intelâ??s PQS annual awards - 12 April 2012
Applied Materials adds Jim Rogers to Board of Directors - 29 April 2008
TSMC honors suppliers at annual Supply Chain Management Forum - 03 December 2008
Despite high capacity utilization throughout 2010, UMC’s capital expenditure was pegged at US$1.8 billion. Significantly, capital expenditure was said to remain at the same level in 2011, despite record revenue and profits posted for last year. UMC posted revenue of US$4 billion for 2010, while the foundry industry has seen approximately 6-quarters of growth, since coming out of the recession in mid-2009.
Key to its spending plans in 2011 is a focus on advanced technology nodes. Recently, IHS iSuppli reported that UMC was falling behind its major rivals on processing prowess.
UMC executives claimed that in the second-half of the year the foundry would see 10% of its capacity used 40nm processes and that pilot production at the 28nm node would start by mid-year.
Capacity utilization fell slightly in the fourth quarter, down from 99% in Q3 to 94% in Q4.
