HSINCHU, Taiwan, July 31, 2009 - UMC (NYSE: UMC; TSE: 2303), a leading global semiconductor foundry, today announced that its Singapore-based operations, UMC SG, has opened a local office dedicated to Europe sales and support. The new office will enable better service to current and future customers with products manufactured at Fab 12i, UMC's Singapore-based 300mm fab. The office will be officially opened and ready to serve customers effective August 1, 2009.

Mr. C.Y. Hsu, general manager, Europe sales office at UMC SG, said, "The opening of UMC SG's Europe sales office in Singapore is another example of our commitment to provide Customer Driven Foundry Solutions to our customers. The new office will help streamline the interface between UMC SG and our European customers with products at Fab 12i by eliminating the need to channel through UMC headquarters in Taiwan. This in turn will help enhance response time and efficiency to increase our customers' competitiveness and accelerate their product time-to-market."

UMC's Fab 12i is a second-generation 300mm fab that has been in production since 2004. The state-of-the-art facility features advanced automation with a current installed capacity of 31,000 wafers per month. Fab 12i has several customers from Europe from both IDM and fabless sectors, and is in volume production for IC's down to 65nm/55nm.

UMC (NYSE: UMC, TSE: 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 12,000 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.