- Business
- United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC; NYSE: UMC, TWSE: 2303) operates as a leading global pure-play semiconductor foundry, providing advanced integrated circuit (IC) fabrication services focused on logic and specialty technologies including Logic/Mixed-Signal, embedded High-Voltage (eHV), embedded Non-Volatile-Memory (eNVM), RFSOI, BCD, eFlash, gallium nitride (GaN), and microwave platforms for applications in mobile and wireless communications, IoT and wearables, computing and data processing, automotive, AI, consumer electronics, 5G, and power management; the company also offers design enablement services, wafer manufacturing, IP portfolios with approximately 15,000 semiconductor patents, and packaging material management across 12 fabs (four 12-inch, seven 8-inch, one 6-inch) with combined monthly capacity exceeding 400,000 12-inch equivalent wafers, all certified to IATF 16949 automotive standards. Founded in 1980 as a spin-off from Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute and headquartered in Hsinchu, Taiwan, UMC maintains core R&D and most manufacturing in Taiwan, with additional fabs in Singapore, China, and Japan, sales offices in the United States, Europe, China, Japan, Korea, and Singapore, and approximately 20,000 employees worldwide. Recent developments include the April 2025 grand opening of a new 22nm/28nm fab expansion in Singapore's Pasir Ris Wafer Fab Park, representing up to US$5 billion investment for 30,000 wafers per month initial capacity starting volume production in 2026 to support communications, IoT, automotive, and AI chips while creating 700 local jobs and enhancing supply chain resilience; a July 2025 acquisition of production software from Synopsys International Limited for NT$534 million to boost manufacturing efficiency; a September 2025 purchase of production software from Siemens Electronic Design Automation Japan for NT$347 million via subsidiary United Semiconductor Japan; an ongoing collaboration with Intel announced in 2024 on a 12nm FinFET process platform leveraging U.S. capacity for mature nodes; and plans for a new advanced packaging facility in southern Taiwan to address AI and high-performance computing demand.