Could United Microelectronics Become the Next TSMC?

United Microelectronics (NYSE: UMC), Taiwan's second-largest contract chipmaker and the world's third-largest foundry, doesn't attract nearly as much attention as the market leader Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE: TSM). TSMC and UMC are both based in Hsinchu, Taiwan, but the former generated more than seven times as much revenue as the latter last year. Back in 1980, Taiwan's government-backed Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) spun out UMC as the country's first semiconductor company.