The tortoise or the hare?

$United Microelectronics(UMC.US)$ $Taiwan Semiconductor(TSM.US)$
TSMC is still growing rapidly, but it's paying a high price to maintain its lead against Samsung and Intel. UMC is also generating robust growth, but it's maintaining a lower profile, serving lower-end markets, and isn't allocating tens of billions of dollars toward the construction of new cutting-edge plants.

TSMC's stock looks reasonably valued at 21 times next year's earnings, but UMC trades at just 13 times next year's earnings -- even though it's already outperformed its larger rival over the past 12 months.

UMC is essentially the tortoise of the foundry sector to TSMC's hare. Both of these companies are still sound long-term investments in the semiconductor sector, but I believe UMC's more conservative approach will enable it to generate bigger gains than TSMC for the foreseeable future.