Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C. - August 12, 2002, - United Microelectronics Corporation (TAIEX: 2303, NYSE: UMC), held a meeting of the Board of Directors and Supervisors, at which the Board passed a resolution to institute a stock option plan for its employees. In addition, the Board passed a resolution to buy-back 20.693 million shares from the open market. This is the fifth stock buy-back program announced by the company. The details for the option program and share buy-back are as follows:

Stock Options Plan

1. The company will issue stock options within one year of the approval by the relevant authorities, and the Chairman will determine the issue. The options may be issued a single time or incrementally during this period.
2. The stock option plan applies to employees of UMC and its domestic and overseas affiliate companies. The number of options issued to an employee will be determined by a number of factors, including seniority, rank, and job performance.
3. The total number of options to be issued is 1,000,000,000 (one billion).
4. Each option certificate is equivalent to one UMC common share.
5. The settlement upon the exercise of share options will be made through the issue of new shares.
6. The strike price for the shares is the market price at the time of issue and the vesting period for employee options is 6 years. Employees may exercise up to 50% of the options after two years, up to 75% after three years and up to 100% after 4 years.
   
   
   

The fifth share buy-back program

1. Purpose of the share buy back: Bond conversion
2. Expected dates of buy back: Between August 12, 2002 and October 11, 2002.
3. Number of shares: 20,693,000 shares
4. Target price range for buyback: NT$21 to NT$54. If the price falls below the lowest range, the company is still authorized to purchase the shares.
5. The shares will be purchased from the open market.
6. The number of shares to be bought back is 0.16% of the total outstanding shares of the company.
7. The company currently holds 215,574,000 shares of its stock from the previous four stock buyback programs.