Taiwanese wafer foundry manufacturers are expecting to see a reverse in their declining fortunes in the second half of the year, as they start making smaller wafers to counteract the slow semiconductor market. Taiwan semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd and United Microelectronics Corp have both expressed confidence that their profits will rise in the second half of the year. Both organizations plan to target 0.35 micron products. UMC has also begun testing 90.25 micron products and is slowing down production of 16Mb Dynamic Random Access Memory devices. UMC is set to open its fifth plant, which will start mass production next year with a planned monthly output of 25,000 units, starting with 0.25 micron products. USC is developing 0.18 micron products at the moment, and hopes to start test production in the first quarter of next year.
