United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) has revised downward its growth forecast for the global semiconductor market to 5% this year from its previous estimate of 5%-10% growth, company CEO Shin-Wei Sun said at a shareholders meeting on April 27.

Sun cited concerns about supply chain disruptions from the Japan disaster, and uncertainty about demand.

Sun's comment came after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) chairman and CEO Morris Chang cut his growth forecast for the global non-memory chip sector in 2011 to 4% from the 7% previously estimated.

With regard to UMC's own operations, Sun indicated that the company remains capable of securing component and material supplies following Japan's devastating earthquake. In addition, its Japan-based manufacturing subsidiary UMCJ in Tateyama City, Chiba quickly resumed operations, Sun added.

UMCJ has a monthly capacity of about 22,000 8-inch wafers, and is not running at full utilization at the moment.

By: DocMemory
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