Taiwan's UMC books 3.22 bln twd impairment charge on equity investments

TAIPEI, Oct 01, 2008 (XFN-ASIA via COMTEX) -- UMC | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- United Microelectronics Corp (UMC) (2303.TW) said it has decided to book impairment charge of 3.22 bln twd for the September quarter on some equity investments.

It said that over the last six months, the company saw the value of some investments diminish as the global financial crisis weakened Taiwan's securities markets and overall semiconductor industry demand.

The impairment loss took into account the difference between market prices as of end-September and the original cost of purchase of the assets, the world's second-largest contract chipmaker said in a stock exchange filing.

The company booked a loss of 2.66 bln twd from its holdings of Silicon Integrated Systems Corp (2363.TW), a loss of 236 mln twd from holdings of King Yuan Electronics Co Ltd (2449.TW) and a 200 mln twd loss from investments in SpringSoft Inc (2473.TW), besides others.

The chipmaker said the non-cash impairment loss will not have any impact on its working capital or cash flows.

(1 usd = 32.10 twd)

adela.lin@afxasia.com

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