Taiwan Chip Company Plans to Raise $1.4 Billion in Global Share Sale

A Taiwanese technology company called Unimicron wants to raise about $1.4 billion by selling shares to investors around the world. The company announced the plan on Monday, July 6, in Singapore. Unimicron makes important parts used inside electronic devices, and it wants to use the money to buy raw materials that are priced in foreign currencies. This sale is part of a bigger trend, as many Asian chip companies are turning to global investors right now.

Unimicron is offering 50 million special shares called 'global depositary shares.' Each one is priced between $26.96 and $27.76. A global depositary share is a type of security, which means it is a financial product that lets people in other countries buy a piece of a company. Buying one of these shares is the same as owning one regular share of Unimicron stock.

The price being offered to investors is a little lower than what Unimicron's stock was trading for on Monday. In Taipei, Taiwan's capital, the stock closed at about T$917 — that's Taiwanese dollars. The new shares are priced about 3% to 5.8% lower than that. Companies sometimes offer a small discount like this to get more investors interested in buying.

Unimicron's stock has had an incredible year. Its share price has shot up 317% since January 1st, according to financial data company LSEG. That means investors who bought the stock at the start of the year have seen its value more than quadruple. The reason for this excitement is the growing demand for artificial intelligence, or AI, technology.

AI is driving a huge increase in spending on computer chips and the parts that support them. Unimicron makes two very important products: printed circuit boards and chip substrates. These are the parts that connect chips to each other and hold them in place inside phones, computers, and other devices. Without these parts, modern electronics simply would not work.

Unimicron is not alone in raising money this way. South Korea's big memory chip company SK Hynix announced plans on Monday for a massive $28 billion listing in the United States. Another Taiwan company called Powerchip Semiconductor also sold global depositary shares back in June. All of these companies are trying to take advantage of the AI boom and raise cash to grow.

The new Unimicron shares will be listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, which is a major stock market in Europe. The final price for the shares was expected to be set later on Monday. Unimicron did not respond when Reuters asked the company for a comment about the deal.