HSINCHU, Taiwan, Feb. 9, 2009 - UMC (NYSE: UMC; TSE: 2303), a leading global semiconductor foundry, today announced that MediaTek Inc., a leading fabless semiconductor company for wireless communications and digital multimedia solutions, has awarded UMC's Fab 12i with its 2008 Best Fab Award. The 300mm fab scored highest on MediaTek's scorecard system, which benchmarked all of their foundry vendors and included stringent criteria for fab operations. UMC performed well in areas such as providing solid and quick responses to MediaTek's requirements, rapid yield improvement for yield-related issues, and fast cycle time support for urgent wafer lots.

"UMC is well deserving of our 2008 Best Fab award," said Ching-Jiang Hsieh, President of MediaTek. "Their customer service and engineering teams have done an excellent job in supporting our various projects and manufacturing needs. They have been instrumental in helping us achieve our product development and manufacturing targets."

Dr. Shih-Wei Sun, CEO of UMC, said, "We are excited that our long-time partner MediaTek has recognized UMC for its superior fab performance. This award reflects well on our commitment to deliver Customer-Driven Foundry Solutions to respond to the needs and requirements of each customer. We look forward to further enhancing our service to Mediatek in the future."

In addition to the Best Fab Award, UMC also won MediaTek's 2008 Best Project Award for the foundry's solid support for an ongoing project. MediaTek has several products in development or production across multiple fabs at UMC.

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.