Taipei, Taiwan, ROC – December 8, 2010 - United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE: UMC; TWSE:2303) – ("UMC"), a leading global semiconductor foundry, today announced that the company has won Global Views Magazine's second annual Taiwan Environmental Heroes award. UMC is the only semiconductor foundry to win since the award's inception in 2009 and the only electronics manufacturing firm to win this year. UMC's CEO Dr. Shih-Wei Sun will accept the award on the company's behalf during today's award ceremony.

Dr. Sun stated, "This honor demonstrates widespread recognition of UMC's investment in environmental protection and industry-leading efforts to address global warming and climate change. UMC proudly accepts this award in the same year as we mark our thirtieth anniversary. At 30, UMC hopes to become the semiconductor industry's green leader while continuing our focus on industry advancements. Despite the challenges inherent in carbon management, UMC not only innovates and proposes solutions, but also practices low carbon operations. On April 22's Earth Day this year, UMC became the industry's first company to announce a new climate change policy and carbon emission reduction plan to fight global warming and achieve a low carbon footprint. UMC leverages its manufacturing technology prowess to achieve revolutionary breakthroughs in green technology and applications that promote energy conservation, reduce carbon emissions, and inject fresh enthusiasm for corporate sustainability."

UMC's climate change policy is three-pronged: 1) establish carbon neutral as the goal in carbon management, 2) become a comprehensive low carbon solution provider, 3) leverage corporate resources to cultivate a low carbon economy. UMC's carbon emission reduction plans aim to cut normalized perfluorinated compounds (PFC) emissions by 33% and electricity usage by 3% by 2012. Once these plans are fully executed, carbon dioxide emissions are expected to further drop by 170,000 tons per year.

The "Environmental Heroes" award was first established by Global Views Magazine in 2009. Global Views invited 52 environmental groups, foundations, and experts in Taiwan to nominate candidates for the award. They compiled a total of 165 candidates from which 15 environmental heroes were selected among four categories: leadership and government; corporations and commerce; technological innovation and applications; activists and opinion leaders. The 2010 second annual "Environmental Heroes" award nominates and evaluates practitioners who work on energy conservation and carbon reduction and are dedicated to helping Taiwan become a low carbon zone. The award recognizes those heroes who continue their green influence and motivate others to follow their lead and participate.

UMC (NYSE: UMC, TWSE: 2303) is a leading global semiconductor foundry that provides advanced technology and manufacturing services for applications spanning every major sector of the IC industry. UMC's customer-driven foundry solutions allow chip designers to leverage the strength of the company's leading-edge processes, which include production proven 65nm, 45/40nm, mixed signal/RFCMOS, and a wide range of specialty technologies. Production is supported through 10 wafer manufacturing facilities that include two advanced 300mm fabs; Fab 12A in Taiwan and Singapore-based Fab 12i are both in volume production for a variety of customer products. The company employs approximately 13,000 people worldwide and has offices in Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Europe, and the United States. UMC can be found on the web at http://www.umc.com.

Note From UMC Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
Some of the statements in the foregoing announcement are forward looking within the meaning of the U.S. Federal Securities laws, including statements about future outsourcing, wafer capacity, technologies, business relationships and market conditions. 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; and technological and development risks.