HSINCHU, Taiwan, April 27, 2009 - UMC (NYSE: UMC; TWSE: 2303), a leading global semiconductor foundry, announced that the company was formally presented with a Texas Instruments (TI) 2008 Supplier Excellence Award during a special ceremony held today between executives from TI and UMC. TI released the list of award recipients on April 8th, with UMC being the only semiconductor foundry this year to receive this honor. The award, given annually, honors firms whose dedication and commitment in supplying products and services meet TI's high standards for excellence. Recipients are an elite group of suppliers chosen for their exemplary performance in the areas of Environmental Responsibility, Technology, Responsiveness, Assurance of Supply, and Quality.

"TI has worked closely with UMC for more than seven years, since the inception of our strategy to outsource a significant portion of our advanced CMOS production requirements, and during this period UMC has consistently made every effort to help TI be successful," said Tom Thorpe, vice president of External Development and Manufacturing at TI. "In the past year we have seen marked improvement in UMC's consistency, both in terms of quality and execution. We recognize and thank UMC for their consistent support of TI over multiple years and their determination to continuously improve."

Dr. Shih-Wei Sun, CEO of UMC, said, "As a silicon foundry service provider, UMC is thrilled to receive this honor from TI, a global pioneer in IC product, design, and technology since the inception of the semiconductor industry. TI has been working closely with UMC through all aspects of the TI-UMC foundry manufacturing partnership. We sincerely appreciate TI's business, and the opportunity to work with them for technical and manufacturing collaborations throughout the years. Looking forward, despite any economic uncertainties, we will continue to strive our best to further strengthen TI's competitiveness through UMC's "Customer-Driven Foundry Solutions" approach."

UMC is currently providing foundry services for multiple TI products down to the 45nm process generation. Today's award ceremony was held at the foundry's 300mm fab complex in Tainan, Taiwan.

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.