On September 22, United Microelectronics rose 3.22% overnight, trading at $26.25 per share, with turnover of $760,000.

The rally was primarily driven by intensifying price hike expectations across the mature-process wafer foundry industry. United Microelectronics announced it will initiate price increases, with peer Powerchip reportedly raising quotes by as much as 40%. United Microelectronics stated explicitly that if current supply-demand trends persist, foundry price adjustments next year will be more pronounced than those in the second half of this year. The company's 8-inch wafer prices are set to rise 10%-15% for new orders, with comprehensive price increases planned for next year.

The underlying catalyst is an AI-driven structural demand surge for mature-process chips — power management ICs, MCUs, sensors, and MOSFETs required to support high-performance computing chips — compounded by TSMC's gradual withdrawal from certain mature nodes, creating significant order overflow. United Microelectronics' capacity utilization has surpassed 90% this quarter, with gross margins holding in the mid-30% range. Additionally, August net sales reached NT$25.045 billion, up 30.71% year-over-year, reinforcing robust fundamentals.

(The above content is based on publicly available market information, generated by a program or algorithm, and is intended solely as a stock movement alert. It does not constitute investment advice or a basis for trading decisions.)