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As IoT (Internet of Things) chips currently rely largely on 8-inch wafer fabs for fabrication, the increasing demand for such chips will keep such fabs in Taiwan and China running at full capacity through the end of 2018, with the capacity supply likely to fall short of demand by 2020 at least due to limited capacity expansions worldwide, according to industry sources.

The sources said that global tech giants and telecom operators are joining IoT application markets, and governments in many countries are injecting substantial resources into IoT infrastructure construction, showing explosive demand for IoT-related chipset solutions. This has enabled 8-inch wafer fabs operated by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), Vanguard International Semiconductor (VIS), United Microelectronics (UMC), as well as China's Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) and Hua Hong Semiconductor to post sharp revenue and earnings growths.

UMC likely to see major turnaround

Sources from Taiwan's IC design sector said that compared with TSMC, VIS and China foundry houses, UMC is in a better position to stand out in 8-inch wafer foundry business as it has fully depreciated the related equipment and can readily make profits for many years after landing orders. They indicated that UMC has a chance to see its market value expand 10-fold in three years, just as experienced by Yageo, as long as the company can dispose of its stakes in reinvested IC design houses and enforce an appropriate capital reduction.

Usually, global foundry houses can now still maintain comparatively higher revenue and profit growth rates than other semiconductor segments, but UMC's ambiguous business positioning and ties with IC design houses will undermine its opportunity for tapping new clients and capturing new orders, the sources said. They added that unloading stakes in reinvested IC design firms will help UMC better strive for orders, enhance the firm's cash flows and improve its financial structures.

UMC is now capitalized at NT$126.2 billion (US$4.27 billion), almost half that of TSMC, but the former's monthly revenue of around NT$12 billion is only about one tenth of the latter's. With this, trimming its paid-in capital for a higher EPS performance is a good direction that UMC can consider, the sources indicated.