United Microelectronics (UMC) stock surged 5.32% in pre-market trading following the release of its first-quarter earnings report that significantly exceeded market expectations.

The company reported a net profit of NT$16.17 billion for Q1, representing a remarkable 108% year-over-year increase. Gross margin improved to 29.2% as capacity utilization reached 79%, while average selling prices rose 8% compared to the same period last year. Management has guided for an additional 5-7% price increase in the second quarter, which is expected to push gross margin above 30%.

The strong performance was driven by robust pricing momentum in mature-node foundry services and sustained demand from key growth sectors including automotive electronics, AI edge computing, and IoT applications.