United Microelectronics Corporation
(TWSE: 2303, NYSE: UMC), at its 2nd Board of Directors meeting of the 11th
term held today, approved the establishment of New Business Development Center
and its 100% owned subsidiary, UMC New Business Investment Corporation. Wen
Yang Chen, senior vice president of UMC, will be responsible for New Business
Development Center.
UMC established the center to capitalize in high growth and high profit potential
industries through timely strategic investment. This will bring new momentum
for UMC to further grow and enhance UMC's future asset turnover and profitability.
Capital for UMC's 100% owned subsidiary, UMC New Business Investment Corporation,
is expected to reach NTD 1.5 billion. The company will invest based on the research
and evaluation performed by UMC New Business Development Center. In the future,
the company will acquire absolute majority of the investees' shares and aggressively
participate in the decision-making process and operation of the invested companies.
Recently, major developed and developing countries have listed energy saving
and carbon reduction as primary administrative policies to face the challenge
of potential energy shortages in the future. Technologies for renewable energy
and energy saving will become the focus for future technology development; the
growth of related industries is predictable. The utilization of solar energy
has high development potential in the renewable energy sector, while LED is
a focus area for energy saving. UMC's knowledge and technologies are highly
applicable to the fundamentals of these two industries; hence UMC New Business
Development Center will focus on these two areas by utilizing UMC's existing
expertise and technologies. In the short-to-mid term, UMC plans to complete
the development of related technologies and establish a preliminary scale of
operations. For the long term, as key proficiencies mature and resource integration
is complete, the new energy business is expected to become another UMC core
business with high competitive advantages.
Wen Yang Chen, UMC senior vice president, is currently responsible for operations
and sales of UMC's 8-inch (including 6-inch) fabs. He will also be responsible
for the operation of UMC New Business Development Center, which will allow him
to leverage his extensive experiences in the semiconductor industry to conduct
evaluations on various investments, and the integration, management and utilization
of human resources, technology and capital.
Enhancing UMC's profitability and improving shareholders' equity has always
been UMC's goal. UMC will continue to strengthen its foundry industry competitiveness,
while also adopting an intelligent capital utilization strategy through this
new energy business development to increase capital utilization performance,
build momentum for long-term growth, and to create even greater benefits for
UMC's shareholders.
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.
Posted Ausgust 24th, 2009