The United Microelectronic Corp. plans to set up a company to invest in solar and LED lighting in order to expand beyond the traditional semiconductor industry.

UMC's board of directors has agreed to set aside $46 million for the investment fund. The Taiwanese contract chipmaker reached the decision just a few weeks after another contract chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., said it would set aside $50 million for solar investments.

Both companies rose to prominence in the last two decades by making chips mostly for those who don't own factories, which are expensive to build and operate.

The same model could one day work in the solar industry, which currently is filled with companies with their own factories. The fundraising efforts and money required to build and expand a factory often cause product rollout delays.

Already, some solar companies, such as BP Solar and SunPower are outsourcing solar panel production to contract manufacturers. These solar companies still make solar cells, the core of their technologies, while hiring others to assemble the cells into panels.

The chip manufacturing process shares similarities with solar cell production, making solar a seemingly good market to explore. The solar market, being small, also is growing at faster clip than the chip market.

Whether both companies can parlay their investments into good business remains to be seen. UMC and TSMC are discussing investing in other companies for now and perhaps eventually building their own solar manufacturing business down the road.