Taiwan's UMC posts bigger Q3 profit on rising chip demand

TAIPEI Oct 28 (Reuters) - Taiwan's UMC (2303.TW), the world's No.2 contract chip maker, posted a second straight quarterly net profit that beat market expectations, thanks to growing demand for tech products. United Microelectronics Corp (UMC) (UMC.N) booked a net profit of T$6.09 billion ($190 million) for July-September, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.

That was a sharp rise from the second quarter's T$1.55 billion and reversed a loss of T$1.4 billion a year ago. Analysts had expected UMC to earn T$3.65 billion in the third quarter, according to the latest forecast by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. While UMC and sector leader TSMC (2330.TW) (TSM.N) may see sales weaken in the fourth quarter after a strong third quarter, analysts expect the two foundries to spend more money to boost capacity next year as they race to pump out advanced chips.

UMC's Taipei-listed shares rose 43 percent in the third quarter. TSMC shares gained 19 percent, similar to the main TAIEX's .TWII rise in the same period. (US$1=T$32.5) (Reporting by Baker Li, Editing by Valerie Lee and Jonathan Hopfner)