UMC Collaborates with NTU to Deliver RF Chip for WiMax

HSINCHU, Taiwan--July 5, 2006--UMC (NYSE:UMC)(TSE:2303), a leading global semiconductor foundry, and National Taiwan University (NTU) today announced that their research collaboration has resulted in the delivery of a high performance, fully integrated RF receiver design for WiMax. The low noise amplifier in the 0.18um RF receiver has demonstrated the world's lowest noise figure (1.78dB) in a 5 GHz range. The receiver radio frequency front end with ultra low operating voltage (1 volt) also achieved a low noise level of 5-6 dB. In addition, by adopting a new type of system architecture, the design effectively suppresses the DC offset resulting from direct conversion receivers well below noise levels. This design will be packaged as an IP for commercial applications.

Professor Shey-Shi Lu, graduate institute of electronics engineering at NTU and project leader, said, "Having the support of a semiconductor industry leader such as UMC has enabled us to expand our research and explore new areas of development for the emerging WiMax standard. UMC's 0.18um CMOS process demonstrates superior RF performance beyond our expectations. The added capabilities realized through partnering with UMC have led to this most recent achievement, and we are proud to be able to deliver this breakthrough RF receiver through this mutual effort."

"UMC has a successful history in partnering with educational institutions to support and conduct mutual research and development," said Ken Liou, director of the IP and Design Support division at UMC. "The collaborative success of this WiMax RF chip with National Taiwan University further demonstrates our commitment to maintaining productive relationships with leading universities. We are pleased to have worked with NTU to develop this milestone project and look forward to future accomplishments with them."

UMC and NTU have filed several patent applications for this new system, which are expected to be granted next year. The successful result of this collaboration is part of a two-year joint research program between UMC and NTU that began in 2005.

About WiMAX Technology

WiMAX is a standards-based technology enabling the delivery of last mile wireless broadband access as an alternative to cable and DSL. WiMAX will provide fixed, nomadic, portable and, eventually, mobile wireless broadband connectivity without the need for direct line-of-sight with a base station. In a typical cell radius deployment of three to ten kilometers, WiMAX Forum Certified(TM) systems can be expected to deliver capacity of up to 40 Mbps per channel, for fixed and portable access applications. This is enough bandwidth to simultaneously support hundreds of businesses with T-1 speed connectivity and thousands of residences with DSL speed connectivity. Mobile network deployments are expected to provide up to 15 Mbps of capacity within a typical cell radius deployment of up to three kilometers. It is expected that WiMAX technology will be incorporated in notebook computers and PDAs by 2007, allowing for urban areas and cities to become "metro zones" for portable outdoor broadband wireless access.

About UMC

UMC (NYSE:UMC)(TSE:2303) is a leading global semiconductor foundry that manufactures advanced system-on-chip (SoC) designs for applications spanning every major sector of the IC industry. UMC's SoC Solution Foundry strategy is based on the strength of the company's advanced technologies, which include production proven 90nm, 65nm, 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.

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