UMC Shares Surge 6% as Automotive Chip Venture Fuels Optimism
United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) rallied 6% to $9.30 in U.S. trading, briefly touching a 52-week high of $9.37 amid heavy volume of 14.27 million shares. The MOVE comes ahead of earnings and follows its collaboration with Microchip’s Silicon Storage Technology on a 28nm automotive-grade embedded flash memory platform.
Investors are betting the Taiwan-based foundry’s diversification into automotive semiconductors will offset cyclical pressures in consumer electronics. Trading patterns suggest heightened sensitivity to Q4 results and guidance after the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
The 28HPC+ process technology announcement signals UMC’s push into higher-margin automotive applications—a sector where supply constraints persist. Market technicians note the stock now tests resistance at the upper bound of its one-year range, making it vulnerable to profit-taking if earnings disappoint.
