AUSTIN, Texas and HSINCHU, Taiwan- July 28, 2008 - SEMATECH, the international consortium of semiconductor manufacturers that conducts and sponsors cooperative research and development of advanced semiconductor technology, and UMC, (NYSE: UMC, TSE: 2303) a leading global semiconductor foundry, today announced UMC's decision to join SEMATECH. The relationship will focus on research and development for exploratory technologies on 300mm wafers, including 22nm and beyond process generations.

SEMATECH President and CEO Dr. Michael Polcari said, "Our members join me in welcoming UMC to SEMATECH and we look forward to their contributions and technical insight from their perspective as a global leader in 300mm foundry services. UMC will be an important partner in accelerating the progress of R&D innovations into manufacturing solutions."

Given SEMATECH's excellent progress in its advanced technology and manufacturing programs in Albany and Austin, and with suppliers, universities, and research institutes around the world, strong synergies have been created to drive the cooperation with UMC. UMC is a natural partner for SEMATECH. In addition to large-scale 300mm production for 90nm and 65nm foundry products, UMC is currently qualifying its 45nm/40nm technology, and making good progress on 32nm/28nm technology.

"Partnering with SEMATECH is a win-win situation for both organizations," said Dr. Shih Wei Sun, CEO of UMC. "The combination of UMC's 300mm manufacturing experience and process technology expertise and SEMATECH's wealth of knowledge in the field of semiconductor R&D will help the industry better handle the challenges of migration to next generation processes. We are excited about SEMATECH's commitment to 300mm exploratory research and development and look forward to passing the benefits of this technology relationship to our customers."

For 20 years, SEMATECH® (www.sematech.org) has set global direction, enabled flexible collaboration, and bridged strategic R&D to manufacturing. Today, we continue accelerating the next technology revolution with our nanoelectronics and emerging technology partners.

UMC (NYSE: UMC, TSE: 2303) is a leading global semiconductor foundry that manufactures advanced system-on-chip (SoC) designs for applications spanning every major sector of the IC industry. UMC's SoC Solution Foundry strategy is based on the strength of the company's advanced technologies, which include production proven 90nm, 65nm, 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.