HSINCHU, Taiwan, March 17, 2011 - United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE: UMC; TWSE: 2303) ("UMC" or "The Company"), a leading global semiconductor foundry, today announced its sponsorship of the 2011 UMC Management Thesis Award hosted by the Chinese Management Association (CMA). The award, established to encourage top talent to invest in management research, was presented today at the National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) International Convention Center by UMC chairman Stan Hung.

The UMC Management Thesis Award, established in 2010, began promptly to call for papers and is now holding its first award ceremony today. Through support of CMA's thesis award system, UMC hopes to further cultivate management research talent and raise the caliber of Taiwan's management research.

CMA first established its Journal of Management Thesis Award in 1992. For eighteen consecutive years since, CMA has selected from theses published in the Journal of Management and presented the Journal of Management Thesis Award to one winner annually. Due to positive results, CMA broadened the scope and established the UMC Management Thesis Award.

This year, in addition to the Journal of Management, the pool of theses considered for the UMC Management Thesis Award expanded to include those published in the Sun Yat-Sen Management Review, Journal of Financial Studies, International Journal of Accounting Studies, Management Review, NTU Management Review, and Review of Securities and Futures Markets. Following a rigorous review process with more than 100 theses considered, 6 theses received awards. The top award for Outstanding Thesis, with an accompanying prize of NT$500,000, was awarded to the two authors of that thesis. The remaining five Honorable Mention awards, with an accompanying prize of NT$100,000 for each thesis, were presented to 14 thesis contributors.

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 over 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.