UMC, Taiwan’s 2nd biggest chip foundry, has raised its capex to US$2 billion from $1.5 billion as it expands production in Singapore and Tainan, south Taiwan, media report. UMC will expand cleanroom capacity of its Phase 4 facility in Singapore and build a new fab in Tainan. Construction of the new fab is expected to take 20-months. UMC also said it plans to spend at least $5 billion over 3-years, including the $2B this year. $UMC $AMAT $ASML $LRCX $KLAC #semiconductors#

UMC, Taiwan’s 2nd biggest chip foundry, is looking to expand a fab in south Taiwan due to an overflow of advanced packaging and specialty AI-related orders (silicon interposers, DTC) from Qualcomm, Intel and SanDisk, media report, noting new plans for UMC’s Fab 12A P7 near Tainan, Taiwan, are under evaluation. Orders for power management chips (PMICs) for AI products are also booming. UMC is working with Qualcomm on silicon interposers, DTC (deep trench capacitors), and wafer-to wafer hybrid bonding, while Intel and UMC have partnered on 12nm FinFET, and the UMC-SanDisk cooperation is for memory chip stacking. The story cites unnamed industry sources. $UMC $QCOM $SNDK $INTC #semiconductors#

Earnings Takeaways UMC (2303 TT, UMC) * Maintained constructive view despite lower TP; >90% UTR guidance and firm pricing support margin expansion into 2027, yet higher depreciation a partial offset * Raised 2026 capex to US$2bn, driven by Singapore fab cleanroom and 12A P7/P8 shell construction. * Product upgrade (22/28nm, AI, optics) remains the key earnings driver, with AI revenue targeted to exceed US$1bn within 3 years. * Foundry landscape remains favorable as Samsung scales back mature nodes while AI/optics demand stays strong. * Intel collaboration remains on track, with tape-out expected in 2027 on Intel 12; we removed our previous expectation for Intel 3/4 due to lacking engineering power for leading nodes * 3Q26 guidance: shipments +high-single digit QoQ, firm ASP, GM in the mid-30%, UTR >90%. Celestica (CLS US) * Strong beat-and-raise: raised 2026 revenue outlook to US$20.5bn and EPS to ~US$11.3, reflecting improving AI demand visibility. * 2027 revenue expected to grow >65% YoY, driven by hyperscaler AI deployments. * CCS remains the growth engine (+84% YoY), benefiting from 800G/1.6T networking and AI compute platform demand. * Google TPU share loss is largely priced in, with upside from other hyperscalers and AMD programs. * Neutral #UMC# #CLS#