Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited vs United Microelectronics Corporation, two Semiconductors stocks. A side-by-side on valuation, growth, margins, returns, and what each price is betting.
Growth lives in different tenses here: TSMC's income statement is growing into its 63.5 times multiple, a 45.3% operating margin expanding with the AI buildout, while UMC's 213.2 times multiple is not growth at all but arithmetic, a mature-node pricing trough compressing the earnings under a $311B valuation. The two Taiwanese foundries share geography and nothing else commercially: one has a monopoly on leading-edge capacity, the other negotiates commodity wafer prices. Margins run 45.3% against 22%, returns on assets 17.3% against 8.7%, free-cash yields 1.2% against 0.05%. Both are debt-free. The pair is the cleanest demonstration in the sector that a multiple without its denominator's story is noise.
Comparison updated 2026-07-10.
| Metric | TSM | UMC |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $431.91 | $25.58 |
| Market cap | $2.24T | $311.4B |
| Sector | Semiconductors | Semiconductors |
| Stage | Growth | Growth |
| P/E | 63.5 | 213.2 |
| P/B | 17.16 | 27.92 |
| P/S | 25.15 | 43.56 |
| EV/EBITDA | 53.9 | 195.8 |
| Revenue growth | +22.6% | +8.9% |
| Gross margin | 55.6% | 32.3% |
| Operating margin | 45.3% | 22.0% |
| Net margin | 39.6% | 20.8% |
| Return on equity | 27.1% | 13.3% |
| Return on assets | 17.3% | 8.7% |
| Return on invested capital | 25.4% | 12.0% |
| FCF yield | 1.2% | 0.1% |
| Debt / equity | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Current ratio | 2.36 | 2.45 |
| Altman Z (solvency) | 8.22 | 6.96 |
| Piotroski F (quality) | 7 / 9 | 6 / 9 |
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The stronger value is highlighted per metric where one is strictly better on that single number; it is not an overall verdict on either company. For informational and research purposes only. Not investment advice. Not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. boothcheck is not a registered investment adviser. Past performance does not guarantee future results.