Singapore, July 23, 2001 - UMCi Pte. Ltd., a Singapore-based subsidiary of leading wafer foundry UMC (NYSE: UMC) established jointly with Germany's Infineon Technologies AG and the investment branch of Singapore's Economic Development Board (EDBI), today announced that it has awarded the construction contract for its 300mm facility to Kajima Overseas Asia Pte. Ltd. (KOA), the Japan based construction company. Construction will begin immediately for Singapore's first 300mm fab project, located on a 13-hectare (32 acre) site in the Pasir Ris Wafer Fab Park. The US $106 million contract awarded to Kajima is part of the US $3.6 Billion total capital investment for UMCi.

"We chose Kajima Overseas Asia to build the fab structure for UMCi due to their extensive fab construction experience and expertise. We engaged with them for the initial piling stage of this project, and were very satisfied by their performance," said Chris Chi, President of UMCi. "Our plans for UMCi have been progressing at a rapid pace despite the current industry slowdown, demonstrating our firm commitment to Singapore and further adding to UMC's momentum in leading the development of 300mm wafer manufacturing."

Mr. Shimoyama, Managing Director of Kajima Overseas Asia said, "We have been thoroughly impressed with the professionalism shown by UMC's management team, and are confident that we can continue this excellent working relationship throughout the wafer fab construction project."

The 300-mm fab will be built in two phases, with a total planned capacity of 40,000 wafers per month. Groundbreaking for UMCi was held on April 12, 2001, with equipment move-in for the first phase (Module A) scheduled for Q3 2002.

Kajima Overseas Asia Pte. Ltd. (KOA), registered in the Republic of Singapore is the regional operating arm of Japanese leading general contractor, Kajima Corp. http://www.kajima.co.jp

KOA believes that Quality, Cost, Delivery and Safety (QCDS) are the key factors for success, and the company enjoys sound volume of contract in various sectors such as commercial buildings, manufacturing facilities residential building, high-tech facilities and office fit out. Integrated approach by Kajima's design firm, Kajima Design Asia, KOA has been providing Design Build services for many clients. KOA operates in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines, providing services for various kinds of construction needs of the clients. Kajima also operates in Taiwan, Europe and the United States through subsidiaries.