United Microelectronics Corporation

United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC; Chinese: 聯華電子; pinyin: Liánhuá Diànzǐ) is a Taiwanese company based in Hsinchu, Taiwan. It was founded as Taiwan's first semiconductor company in 1980 as a spin-off of the government-sponsored Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI).[4]

"UMC (Company)" redirects here. It can both refer to the Taiwanese company and its American subsidiary, Unicorn Microelectronics Corporation. For other uses, see UMC § Companies and businesses
United Microelectronics Corporation
Native name
聯華電子
TypePublic
TWSE: 2303
NYSE: UMC
IndustrySemiconductor Foundry
Founded1980 (1980)
FounderRobert Tsao
HeadquartersHsinchu Science Park
Hsinchu, Taiwan
Key people
Stan Hung, Chairman
SC Chien, Co-president
Jason Wang, Co-president
RevenueNT$176.821 million[1][2] (2020)
NT$22.007 billion or NT$21.931 billion (2020)
NT$27.18 billion or NT$20.852 billion (2020)
Number of employees
Increase 19,577 (2020) [3]
Websitewww.umc.com/en/home/Index
The Singapore factory and offices of United Microelectronics Corporation.

Overview

UMC is best known for its semiconductor foundry business, manufacturing integrated circuits wafers for fabless semiconductor companies. In this role, UMC is ranked behind competitor TSMC. It has four 300 mm fabs, one in Taiwan, one in Singapore, one in China, and one in Japan.[4]

UMC is listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange as 2303. UMC has 12 manufacturing facilities worldwide, employing approximately 19,500 people.

UMC is a significant supplier to the automotive industry.[5]

History
  • On May 22, 1980, UMC was spun off from the Industrial Technology Research Institute and was formally established as the first private integrated circuit company in Taiwan.
  • 1983: TMC starts a joint research project with US-based Vitelic.
  • 1985
    • UMC was officially listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (code: 2303). It was the first listed semiconductor company in Taiwan. At that time, Morris Chang was its chairman.
    • UMC sets up a subsidiary, Unicorn Microelectronics Corporation (also abbreviated UMC), in Silicon Valley to improve access to technology, signing joint research agreements with Mosel (later Mosel Vitelic) and Quasel.
  • 1995: UMC decided to transform from an IDM company with its own products to a professional pure-play foundry.
  • 1996: Spun off its IC design units to establish MediaTek, Novatek, ITE Technology, Faraday Technology, AMIC Technology, and Davicom.
  • 1999: Fab 12A 12-inch wafer fab in Tainan Science Park was officially established.
  • 2000:
    • Lists on the New York Stock Exchange (code: UMC) as Taiwan's first semiconductor company to do so.[6]
    • Produces the first chips using copper process technology and the first 0.13 micron ICs in the semiconductor industry.
  • 2004: 12-inch wafer fab in Singapore enters mass production.
  • 2008: Listed as a constituent stock on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) for the first time.[7]
  • 2010: 30th anniversary of the company.
  • 2013: Fully acquires "Hejian Technology Wafer Fab" in Suzhou, China.
  • 2015: USCXM 12-inch wafer fab located in Xiamen, Fujian Province, China was officially established.[8]
  • 2017: 28 nm mass production begins at USCXM in Xiamen, China.
  • 2019: Fully acquired Japan-based Mie Fujitsu Semiconductor.[9][10][11]
  • 2020: Reached a plea agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to resolve a 2018 trade secrets case.[12]

U.S. Indictment and guilty plea

The United States Department of Justice indicted UMC and Chinese firm Fujian Jinhua in 2018, alleging that they conspired to steal intellectual property from U.S. company Micron.[13][14] In October 2020, UMC and the U.S. Department of Justice reached a plea agreement, with UMC pleading guilty to one count of receiving and possessing a stolen trade secret and agreeing to pay a fine of $60 million. UMC’s plea and Plea Agreement resolved the 2018 trade secrets case brought against UMC by the U.S. Department of Justice. As part of the Plea Agreement, DOJ agreed to dismiss the original indictment against UMC, including allegations of conspiracy to commit economic espionage and conspiracy to steal multiple trade secrets from Micron Technology, Inc. (“Micron”), patent-related allegations, and alleged damages and penalties of $400 million USD to $8.75 billion. The one trade secret at issue in the guilty plea and Plea Agreement related to older technology that had been in mass production worldwide for several years. DOJ also dismissed a related civil case against UMC. Aside from the fine amount, UMC has no further financial obligations to DOJ. The Plea Agreement also provides that UMC will cooperate with DOJ and will be subject to a three-year term of non-supervised probation.[12]

Fab list
Semiconductor fabrication plants[15][note 1]
FabNodeLocationWafer diameterWafers per month
WKT 450-350 nmHsinchu, Taiwan150 mm31,000
Fab 8A500-250 nmHsinchu, Taiwan200 mm67,000
Fab 8C350-110 nmHsinchu, Taiwan200 mm37,000
Fab 8D130-90 nmHsinchu, Taiwan200 mm31,000
Fab 8E500-180 nmHsinchu, Taiwan200 mm37,000
Fab 8F180-150 nmHsinchu, Taiwan200 mm40,000
Fab 8S180-110 nmHsinchu, Taiwan200 mm31,000
Fab 8N (He Jian)500-110 nmSuzhou, China200 mm76,000
Fab 12A130-14 nmTainan, Taiwan300 mm87,000
Fab 12i130-40 nmSingapore300 mm53,000
Fab 12X (United Semiconductor)40-28 nmXiamen, China300 mm19,000 -> 25,000 (2021)
Fab 12M (USJC, former Fujitsu) 90-40 nm Mie, Japan 300 mm 33,000

Processes
Revenue Breakdown by Geometry[16] [17]
Geometry3Q213Q203Q193Q18
14nm and below 0%0%0%5%
14nm<x<=28nm 19%14%12%13%
28nm<x<=40nm 18%23%26%22%
40nm<x<=65nm 19%19%14%12%
65nm<x<=90nm 8%10%12%10%
90nm<x<=0.13um 12%11%11%11%
0.13um<x<=0.18um 13%13%13%14%
0.18um<x<=0.35um 8%8%9%10%
0.5um and above 3%2%3%3%

See also

Notes
  1. The number (e.g. 8 or 12) in the fab name reflects on the size of the wafer.

References
  1. "Investors Overview - UMC". www.umc.com. Retrieved 2021-07-24.
  2. "umc-20f_20201231.htm". SEC. 2021-04-29. Retrieved 2021-07-25.
  3. "United Microelectronics: Number of Employees 2006-2020". Macrotrends. Retrieved 2021-03-11.
  4. "UMC Overview". UMC. Archived from the original on 2005-03-19. Retrieved 2010-06-29.
  5. Pei-chi, Liang; Chien-chung, Chang; Jung-feng, Chung; Huang, Frances. "Major Taiwan chipmakers to assign capacity for car use". focustaiwan.tw. Focus Taiwan. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  6. "UMC Lists on NYSE".
  7. "UMC Selected as DJSI component".
  8. "UMC begins construction of 12-inch fab in Xiamen". DIGITIMES. Retrieved 2020-11-10.
  9. "UMC Receives Final Approval for 100% Acquisition of Mie Fujitsu Semiconductor". www.businesswire.com. September 25, 2019.
  10. "UMC Receives Final Approval for 100% Acquisition of Mie Fujitsu Semiconductor". www.bloomberg.com. 2019-09-25. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
  11. "Message from the President | USJC：United Semiconductor Japan Co., Ltd". 17 December 2018.
  12. "UMC and US Department of Justice reach Plea Agreement on Trade Secret Case". www.businesswire.com. 2020-10-29. Retrieved 2020-11-09.
  13. "PRC State-Owned Company, Taiwan Company, and Three Individuals Charged With Economic Espionage". www.justice.gov. November 1, 2018.
  14. Reuters Staff (2019-01-10). "China chipmaker Fujian Jinhua pleads not guilty to US theft charges". Reuters. Retrieved 2020-10-31. {{cite news}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  15. "Q2 2020 Investor Conference Official Material" (PDF).
  16. "UMC Reports Third Quarter 2021 Results" (PDF). UMC.
  17. "UMC Reports Third Quarter 2019 Results" (PDF). UMC.
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