300mm fab further diversifies UMC’s Asia manufacturing base

HSINCHU, Taiwan — (BUSINESS WIRE) — September 25, 2019 — United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE: UMC; TWSE: 2303) ("UMC"), a leading global semiconductor foundry, today announced that the company has satisfied all closing conditions, including final approval from all relevant government agencies, for the full acquisition of Mie Fujitsu Semiconductor Limited (MIFS), the former 300mm wafer foundry joint venture between UMC and Fujitsu Semiconductor Limited (FSL). The completion of the acquisition is scheduled for October 1, 2019.

In 2014, FSL and UMC agreed for UMC to acquire a 15.9% stake in MIFS from FSL through progressive phases. FSL is now cleared to transfer the remaining 84.1% of its shares in MIFS to UMC, with a final transaction value to acquire the remaining shares totaling ¥ JPN 54.4 billion. As a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Taiwan-based foundry, MIFS will be renamed as United Semiconductor Japan Co., Ltd. (USJC).

In addition to the equity investment in MIFS, FSL and UMC have had a mutually beneficial partnership through licensing of UMC's 40nm technology and establishment of a 40nm logic production line at MIFS. After several years of joint operations, both companies agreed on the benefits of integrating MIFS into UMC to strengthen UMC’s business foundation as a leading global semiconductor foundry with a broad customer portfolio, enhanced manufacturing expertise and extensive technology offerings, enabling MIFS to maximize its potential, enhance Japan’s semiconductor industry competiveness and drive values to UMC’s stakeholders.

Jason Wang, co-president of UMC, said, “This win-win acquisition will create synergies through the integration of USJC’s world-class production quality standards and employees with UMC's decades of manufacturing experience, economy of scale and foundry expertise to provide enhanced support for new and existing Japanese customers. Meanwhile, UMC’s global customers will gain access to a volume production 300mm fab in Japan.”

Co-president Wang continued, “The addition of USJC also complements UMC’s strategy of developing a diversified 300mm manufacturing capability across Asia. Going forward, we will continue to stay focused on our strength in Specialty Technologies and explore growth opportunities in line with this strategy through the evaluation of both internal and external capacity expansion opportunities.”

About UMC

UMC (NYSE: UMC, TWSE: 2303) is a leading global semiconductor foundry. The company provides mature and advanced IC production with a focus on Specialty Technologies to manufacture ICs for applications spanning every major sector of the electronics industry. UMC’s comprehensive foundry solutions enable chip designers to leverage the company’s sophisticated technology and manufacturing, which include high volume 28nm High-K/Metal Gate technology, volume production 14nm FinFET, specialty process platforms specifically developed for AI, 5G and IoT applications and the automotive industry’s highest-rated AEC-Q100 Grade-0 manufacturing capabilities for the production of ICs found in vehicles. UMC’s 11 wafer fabs are strategically located throughout Asia and are able to produce more than 600,000 wafers per month. The company employs approximately 18,500 people worldwide, with offices in Taiwan, China, Europe, Japan, Korea, Singapore, and the United States. UMC can be found on the web at http://www.umc.com.

Note from UMC Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements that are based on current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections of future performance based on management's judgment, beliefs, current trends, and anticipated performance. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements relating to synergies resulting from the acquisition of MIFS; expected benefits of acquisition to customers and UMC stakeholders; business strategies of UMC; the anticipated closing date of the acquisition; and anticipated manufacturing capabilities of USJC. Investors are cautioned that actual events and results could differ materially from these statements as a result of a variety of factors, including conditions in the overall semiconductor market and economy; acceptance and demand for products from UMC; risks relating to the integration process after acquisition; technological and development risks; and other risks as described in UMC’s filings with the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 20-F and Current Reports on Form 6-K. Other unknown or unpredictable factors or underlying assumptions subsequently proving to be incorrect could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results, level of activity, performance, or achievements. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. All information provided in this press release is as of today's date, unless otherwise stated, and UMC undertakes no duty to update such information, except as required under applicable law.

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Richard Yu
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