| TAIPEI, Taiwan — Net sales at United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) in March were NT$9,006 million (about $275 million), up 12.2 percent over the previous month and up 27.6 percent over March 2003 sales, the company said Wednesday (April 7). While year-on-year growth was strong, it did not match the strength of the first two months of the year when UMC recorded a 50.5-percent jumped over the previous year. As a result, UMC's sales for the first quarter of 2004, which totalled NT$25.325 billion (about $770 million), were up 41.5 percent, compared to the first quarter of 2003. | 
