United Microelectronics Corp vs Western Digital Corp — how do they compare? United Microelectronics Corp trades at $19.44 (market cap $47.81B), while Western Digital Corp trades at $458.1 (market cap $150.95B). The key difference: Western Digital Corp is far larger — about 3.2× United Microelectronics Corp's market cap, and United Microelectronics Corp pays the higher dividend (2.12%). Which is the better fit depends on your goals.
| UMC | WDC | |
|---|---|---|
Market Cap | $47.81B | $150.95B |
Sector | Technology | Technology |
52-Week High | $28.02 | $746.23 |
52-Week Low | $6.58 | $74.66 |
Enterprise Value | $44.93B | $150.42B |
Dividend Yield | 2.12% | 0.14% |
Signals from Pluang's Aura AI — not financial advice
UMC trades at $18.79, up 0.37% today, with a bearish technical signal. Recent earnings beats and strong July 2026 sales growth of 18.98% year-over-year highlight operational momentum. The company is expanding capacity in Singapore and Taiwan to meet AI-driven demand, supported by a robust balance sheet with $115.24 billion in cash. However, net income margin has declined from 32.1% in 2022 to 16.99% in 2025, posing a concern.
The outlook is mixed; expansion initiatives and AI tailwinds offer growth potential, but margin compression and a bearish technical stance present risks. Analyst consensus is cautious with 53.33% hold ratings. Key catalysts include Q3 2026 earnings and fab expansion progress, while competitive pressures and macroeconomic volatility remain headwinds.
Western Digital (WDC) trades at $438.12, up 0.88% on the day, with strong recent earnings performance beating expectations for three consecutive quarters. The stock shows bearish technical signals but maintains robust fundamentals with 72.95% net income margin and 131.02% ROE. Recent news highlights AI-driven storage demand as a key growth catalyst, though the stock faces valuation concerns after recent sell-offs.
The outlook remains positive with 72% analyst buy ratings and $665 consensus price target, representing 52% upside potential. Key risks include stretched valuation metrics (P/E 18.04, EV/EBITDA 30.24) and competitive threats from SSD adoption. The company's strong AI storage positioning and margin expansion provide growth opportunities, but investors should monitor execution against high expectations.
Trailing returns across standard periods
Latest headlines on both assets
Founded in 1980, United Microelectronics is the world's third-largest dedicated chip foundry, with 7% market share in 2021, according to Gartner, after TSMC and GlobalFoundries. UMC's headquarters are in Hsinchu, Taiwan, and it operates 12 fabs in Taiwan, Mainland China, Japan and Singapore, with additional sales offices in Europe, the U.S. and South Korea. UMC features a diverse customer base including Texas Instruments, MediaTek, Qualcomm, Broadcom, Xilinx and Realtek, supplying a wide range of products applied in communications, display, memory, automotive and more. UMC employs about 20,000 people.
Read more on UMC →Western Digital is a vertically integrated supplier of data storage solutions, spanning both hard disk drives and solid-state drives. In the HDD market it forms a practical duopoly with Seagate, and it is the largest global producer of NAND flash chips for SSDs in a joint venture with competitor Kioxia.
Read more on WDC →