Hsinchu, Taiwan, June 12^th, 2020 - United Microelectronics Corporation (“UMC”) today said it intends to appeal an adverse ruling issued by the District Court of Taichung in a suit filed on the basis of allegations made by Micron, a DRAM market leader. The suit alleged that UMC, two of its current employees and a former employee engaged in the misappropriation of trade secrets.

As Taiwan’s first semiconductor company, UMC has contributed significantly to the development of the semiconductor industry in Taiwan and the cultivation of domestic engineering talent. UMC has always conducted its business with integrity and placed a strong emphasis on intellectual property rights. All UMC technologies are either independently developed through its own research and development effort or duly acquired from third-party intellectual property owners.

In order to better protect customer intellectual property rights, including trade secrets, UMC has established mechanisms to control and monitor the classification and storage of confidential information; regularly implements compliance training on the protection of intellectual property rights; and conducts regular internal audits to ensure the full compliance of its daily operations with its policy and procedures. UMC is also continually upgrading its rigorous management system of intellectual property rights.

The DRAM process development project at issue was approved by Investment Commission, Ministry of Economic Affairs of the Taiwan government, and the technology was developed on the foundation of one of UMC’s own proven processes. More than 300 engineers, many of whom were veterans of UMC’s long-standing and experienced workforce, worked on UMC’s own DRAM manufacturing process for more than two years.

UMC did not violate the Trade Secret Act. In its appeal against the ruling and the excessively disproportionate penalty, UMC will cite many irregularities in both the investigation and the case itself that ran afoul of the Code of Criminal Procedure, such as: the use of misleading interrogation methods; failure to record statements favorable to UMC in interrogation transcripts; and forensic irregularities with electronic and other evidence. UMC is confident that the appellate court will be able to ascertain the facts and rule accordingly.

UMC (NYSE: UMC, TWSE: 2303) is a leading global semiconductor foundry. The company provides high quality IC production with a focus on both logic and specialty technologies to serve every major sector of the electronics industry. UMC’s comprehensive technology and manufacturing solutions include logic/RF, embedded high voltage, embedded flash, RFSOI/BCD and IATF-16949 automotive manufacturing certification for all its manufacturing facilities. UMC operates 12 fabs that are strategically located throughout Asia with a maximum capacity of more than 750,000 8-inch equivalent wafers per month. The company employs approximately 19,000 people worldwide, with offices in Taiwan, China, United States, Europe, Japan, Korea and Singapore. For more information, please visit: http://www.umc.com.

Note from UMC Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
Some of the statements in the foregoing announcement are forward-looking within the meaning of the U.S. Federal Securities laws, including statements about introduction of new services and technologies, future outsourcing, competition, wafer capacity, business relationships and market conditions. Investors are cautioned that actual events and results could differ materially from these statements as a result of a variety of factors, including conditions in the overall semiconductor market and economy; acceptance and demand for products from UMC; and technological and development risks. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in UMC’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. UMC does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under applicable law.