Taiwan Tech Focused Senior Analyst

Patrick Liao

Being invited, I joined Sellside, i.e. JPMorgan, Nomura and Macquarie, totally around 9-10 years. Before that, I joined International Data Corp (https://www.idc.com/) to be the Asia Semiconductor analyst for nearly 2 years, and being invited to do personal lectures in TSMC, UMC, Samsung and etc. In my working experiences, I also had the chance to join Taiwanese panel company, AUO (2409.TT) and the buyside, Chinalife (2823.TT), totally for over 1 year.
I obtained MS degree from the Tsing-Hua University. Then I worked in the Taiwan Semiconductor companies for around 11 years. I had several US patents during my stay in the Semiconductor industry.

Being worked in the sellside and buyside, I deeply dived in the Greater China Semiconductor industry and directly covered some companies, like TSMC (2330.TT, TSM.US), UMC (2303.TT, UMC.US), Vanguard (5347.TT), ASE (3711.TT, ASX.US), SPIL (merged with ASE and delisted), KYEC ( 2449.TT), JCET (600584.CH), ASMPT (522.HK), GWC (6488.TT), WinSemi (3105.TT), Mediatek (2454.TT), Silergy (6415.TT), Novatek (3034.TT), Guoxin Micro (002049.CH) etc.

Taiwan Tech Weekly: TSMC's Affiliate Shows Hyperscalers' Shift to Reduce Nvidia Dependence

Taiwan Dual-Listings Monitor: Market Volatility Opens Up Multiple Historical Range Breakouts

UMC (2303.TT; UMC.US)/ Vanguard (547.TT): The Wafer Prices of Second-Tier Foundries Are Rising.

UMC (2303.TT; UMC.US): 4Q25 Revenue Is Projected to Decline 5–10% QoQ.

UMC (2303.TT; UMC.US): 4Q25 Upbeat; 1Q26 May Be a Challenging Quarter Due to Expected Seasonality.

UMC (2303.TT; UMC.US): 3Q25 Outlook Improves Slightly over 2Q25, Based on Estimated FX Assumptions.

Equity Bottom-Up

United Microelectron Sp Adr / Equity Bottom-Up

<ul>
<li>1Q26 guidance: Wafer shipments flat; ASP stable; gross margin in high 20% (QoQ downside); capacity utilization in mid-70% range.</li>
<li>Foundry market, driven by AI, estimated to reach low-20% growth. UMC’s serviceable market expected in low-single-digit growth.</li>
<li>1Q26 gross margin in high 20s mainly due to rising depreciation. 2026 full-year depreciation expected up low-teens YoY, plus raw material and cost inflation.</li>
</ul>


1Q26 guidance: Wafer shipments flat; ASP stable; gross margin in high 20% (QoQ downside); capacity utilization in mid-70% range.
Foundry market, driven by AI, estimated to reach low-20% growth. UMC’s serviceable market expected in low-single-digit growth.
1Q26 gross margin in high 20s mainly due to rising depreciation. 2026 full-year depreciation expected up low-teens YoY, plus raw material and cost inflation.


TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing) (TSM US)

TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing)

UMC (2303.TT; UMC.US): 1Q26 Revenue Flat, but GM Downside; AI Will Drive Foundry Market Growth.