United Microelectronics : Taiwan’s Minister of Economic Affairs and the Economic Commissioner of the Legislative Yuan visit UMCMinister has been working with enterprises to promote the sustainable development of Taiwan's semiconductor industry

Hsinchu, Taiwan (April 1, 2021)- United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE: UMC; TWSE: 2303) ('UMC'), a leading global semiconductor foundry, today announced that Wang Mei-hua, Taiwan's Minister of Economic Affairs and Chiu Chih-wei, Economic Commissioner of the Legislative Yuan, visited the company to learn more about its status amid the heightened strategic importance of semiconductors worldwide as well as the effect of the local water shortage. Minister Wang hopes that by visiting Taiwan semiconductor companies, the government can gain a better understanding of Taiwan's IC industry development, the power and water supply situation at these enterprises, and other issues so that they may provide timely assistance and work with companies to address challenges and facilitate Taiwan's sustainable IC supply chain development. Minister Wang said, 'UMC was established 41 years ago as Taiwan's first semiconductor company and has witnessed and grown with the industry since its beginning. They have contributed significantly to the development of Taiwan's economic and technological strength, is currently the world's second largest semiconductor foundry, and its upstream and downstream companies have become a fundamental part of Taiwan's 'silicon shield' to promote Taiwan's continued competitiveness and international status. Their achievements represent the best model of industry-government-academic cooperation.' Minister Wang continued, 'Recently, wafer production capacity has been in short supply across the globe. We are grateful to UMC for prioritizing the production of ICs used to fight Covid-19 despite their fabs being full, and for their concerted efforts in capacity planning to address the situation surrounding automotive chips. We are also happy to hear of their plans to expand investment in the Tainan Science Park and conduct R&D for specialty technologies to serve AI, 5G and electric vehicle applications. I am pleased to exchange views with their management team through this visit organized by Commissioner Chiu. The central government understands the challenges facing the semiconductor industry very well, and we will continue to cooperate with industry players to enhance the prominence of Taiwan's semiconductor industry on the world stage.' Commissioner Chiu commented, 'The Legislative Yuan and the Ministry of Economic Affairs are very concerned about the impact of water shortages on companies operating in the Science Park. Today's specially planned visit with these companies is to communicate and listen in person, so we may evaluate amending polices or exploring other means to assist the industry to provide strong support of Taiwan's global IC competitiveness. As a leader in Taiwan's economic and technological development, UMC has continued to invest and cultivate its future in Taiwan despite challenges posed by the pandemic. Their management team's effort to lead UMC in optimizing their technology focus, production capacity, business, corporate responsibility, and sustainable operation are highly visible, and the results are even more impressive.' 'We deeply appreciate Minister Wang and Officer Chiu' affirmation of UMC and agree with the government's position of the importance and need to support the local semiconductor industry,' said Stan Hung, UMC Chairman. 'UMC has mature and advanced technologies, strong R&D capabilities and world-class manufacturing in addition to a large portfolio of nearly 14,000 semiconductor related patents granted worldwide. The company has always respected the need to protect intellectual property rights and has spared no effort to take responsible measures toward this end; we aspire to maintain upstanding industry ethics and establish a healthy competitive landscape with friendly companies. At the same time, we remain committed to our long-standing intention of staying rooted in Taiwan to further enable its productivity and growth; cumulative capital expenditures over the past ten years has reached NT$350 billion. UMC has plans to further invest in Taiwan over the next three years in order to expand production capacity at the company's fab in the Tainan Science Park. We look forward to continuing our work with the government to focus on various specialty technologies required for the development of 5G smartphones, data center, edge computing, electric vehicles and autonomous driving, so that we may help consolidate Taiwan's key position in the global supply chain.' To cope with more severe water restrictions in the future, UMC has deployed various water-saving measures in advance, and has planned and signed contracts with water trucks and sources to supplement water demand if the government were to apply 3rd stage water rationing (>20% water restrictions). Currently, wafer production and delivery remain normal. UMC will continue working hard to save and recycle water and will monitor the water and weather situation closely to instantly respond to any changes, and will fully support the government's drought policy to overcome water shortage challenges together with the entire community. With the continued spread of the epidemic, UMC will further improve its business operations to stabilize employment and create output value for Taiwan Key UMC Facts Taiwan's first IC company (spun off from state-owned ITRI in 1980) More than 19,500 employees worldwide 12 Fabs located across Asia. Leads the industry in RFSOI on 12-inch wafers with 16% global market share First in worldwide DDI market share to serve OLED and LCD markets & first to use 28nm SDDI for mass production Industry leading 22nm ULP/ULL technology 2020 revenue: USD 6.2 billion Specialty Technology Snapshot Technology Technical Characteristics UMC Status RFSOI With RFSOI solutions, RF FE components can be designed for high performance at reasonable cost Leads the industry in RFSOI on 12-inch wafers with overall 16% global market share BCD Provides various high-voltage operation capabilities (up to hundreds of volts or more) required by power management chips (PMIC) Widely used in various applications such as mobile devices, computer laptops, and automotive electronics; this is UMC's fastest growing product line on 8-inch wafers. eHV High-voltage process platform that can meet the specific needs of OLED and LCD display driver ICs No. 1 in worldwide DDI market share, serving OLED and LCD markets; first to use 28nm SDDI for mass production eNVM Improves the computing and storage performance of the chip using embedded memory technology From 180nm to 28nm processes, UMC's specialty eNVM technology serves technology applications in IOT, automotive electronics, industrial control ICs and other applications ULP/ULL Logic Providing ultra-low power and ultra-low leakage logic solutions to reduce energy consumption while maintaining performance Industry leading 22nm ULP/ULL technology Taiwan's Minister of Economic Affairs and the Economic Commissioner of the Legislative Yuan visited UMC (pictured from the second from the left: SC Chien, UMC Co-president, Wayne Wang, Director General of the Hsinchu Science Park, Wang Mei-hua, Minister of Economic Affairs, Stan Hung, Chairman of UMC, and Chiu Chih-wei, Economic Commissioner of the Legislative Yuan)

About UMC

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 19,500 people worldwide, with offices in Taiwan, China, United States, Europe, Japan, Korea and Singapore. For more information, please visit:https://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.

UMC Corporate Communications Richard Yu [phone] ext. 16951 [e-mail]

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