UMC Feb sales dive 57%

HONG KONG: Sales in Taiwan's United Microelectronics Corp (UMC), the world's second-largest contract chip maker, fell 57 percent year-on-year in February, as the global economic recession depressed demand for technology products.

UMC sold NT$3.14 billion ($90 million) worth of products last month compared with NT$7.29 billion in February 2008, the company said yesterday. UMC announced the sales results after the Taipei stock market closed.

The company posted a NT$23.5 billion ($694 million) loss for the last quarter of 2008. It also charged off NT$21.8 billion in investment losses.