Taiwan's United Microelectronics Corp, the world's No.3 contract chip maker, said it aims to wholly own the factory of a joint venture in China, whose output will be sold primarily in the mainland market.

UMC earlier this month said it would build a foundry in the city of Xiamen with the local government and Fujian Electronics & Information Group.

UMC will initially own one-third of the venture but aims to own two-thirds by 2019-2020 and has the ultimate goal of full ownership, senior executives said at the company's quarterly conference call on Wednesday.

The company earlier reported third-quarter net profit of T$2.92 billion ($96.18 million), down from the second quarter's T$3.48 billion.

UMC also said it expected shipments to fall by about 3 percent in the fourth quarter from the third, and that its average selling price (ASP) in U.S. dollar terms would increase by about 1 percent.

In the three months ended September, UMC said its ASP was mostly flat from the previous quarter.