Chipmaker posts record loss

Bloomberg

The chipmaker booked NT$21.8 billion in charges, mainly from investment losses.

Losses may deepen after customers Xilinx and Broadcom forecast bigger sales drops than analysts estimated. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, United Micro’s bigger and more profitable rival, predicted its first quarterly deficit since 1990 as recessions take hold in the U.S., Europe and Japan.

"If the No. 1 player in the industry is going to post a loss, the No. 2 won’t be too good either," said Robyn Hsu, who helps manage $3 billion funds at Capital Investment Trust in Taipei. The net loss was the company’s biggest on record, according to Bloomberg data.