January 8, 2004 – Sales figures from top Taiwanese foundries TSMC and UMC continue to show growth, driving the industry’s recovery.

TSMC reported December net sales of $560.9 million, up 2.5% from November and 67% from December 2002. For the fourth quarter, sales were a record high of $1.71 billion, exceeding the company’s previous estimates in October, and up 5.3% sequentially 3Q03 and more than 40% year-on-year. TSMC says that full-year 2003 sales also shattered records at $5.97 billion, a 25% increase over 2002 sales of $4.76 billion.

For its part, UMC said its December revenues were $247.1 million, a 8.5% increase from November and up from about $160 million a year ago. Fourth-quarter revenues of approximately $700 million represents a 10% increase from 3Q, and a 35% jump from the same quarter a year ago. For the year, UMC reported revenues of $2.51 billion, a 26% increase from 2002, and the highest amount since before beginning of the 2001 downturn.