UMC Increases its Stake in UMCi
Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C. - March
31, 2004, - United Microelectronics Corporation (TAIEX: 2303,
NYSE: UMC), announced that it would purchase 90 million UMCi
shares from EDB Investments Pte. Ltd. (EDBI), the wholly owned
investment arm of Singapore’s Economic Development Board
(EDB). The total cost of the purchase is SGD 201,402,000. After
this transaction, UMC will own 84.96% of UMCi, an increase from
the current level of 75.05%.
As the semiconductor industry
recovery gains momentum, UMC will continue to enhance its support
of UMCi, maintaining UMCi's status as the most advanced semiconductor
foundry in Singapore. UMCi is currently in full-scale production,
and is focused on manufacturing products based on UMC's 0.13um
and below technologies. UMCi has been extremely successful in
leveraging its parent company's extensive 300mm experience. This
knowledge and experience is currently being applied to its rapid
production ramp-up, along with the implementation of single wafer
processing to reduce lot size and cycle time. Production volume
for the state of the art automated facility is expected to reach
10,000 wafers by the end of 2004.
UMCi is located on a 12-hectare
(30 acres) site in Singapore's Pasir Ris Wafer Park. Singapore
is a rapidly emerging global IC manufacturing hub, and its well-established
infrastructure and friendly government policies have attracted
investment from the world's leading semiconductor companies.
About UMC
UMC (NYSE: UMC, TSE: 2303) is a leading global semiconductor foundry
that manufactures advanced process ICs for applications spanning
every major sector of the semiconductor industry. UMC delivers
cutting-edge foundry technologies that enable sophisticated system-on-chip
(SOC) designs, including 90nm copper, 0.13um copper, embedded
DRAM, and mixed signal/RFCMOS. UMC is also a leader in 300mm manufacturing;
Fab 12A in Taiwan is currently in volume production for a variety
of customer products, while Singapore-based UMCi has just entered
volume production. UMC employs over 8,500 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.
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