UMC Names Arthur Kuo as Senior Vice President of UMC-USA

HSINCHU, Taiwan -- September 30, 2008 -- UMC, a leading global semiconductor foundry, today announced that Dr. Arthur Kuo has rejoined the company with his appointment as senior vice president at UMC-USA, UMC's wholly-owned sales office based in Sunnyvale, California. Dr. Kuo brings more than 20 years of semiconductor related experience to the position, having been active in areas that include IC process and product development as well as sales and marketing management. Dr. Kuo will oversee and manage sales to UMC's substantial North American customer base.

Tony Yu, President of UMC-USA, said, "We are very enthusiastic about Dr. Kuo's decision to rejoin us to lead the North American sales team. With his extensive knowledge of foundry technology, and experience in sales and marketing, Arthur is ideally qualified to implement UMC's strategy of providing customer-driven foundry solutions. His understanding of the North American foundry market will greatly strengthen service to our customers there."

Dr. Kuo's previous responsibilities at UMC included senior positions in sales, marketing, and customer engineering at UMC-USA. Dr. Kuo Also worked for S3 Graphics, Watkins-Johnson, and LSI Logic. He received his Ph.D and MS in Electrical Engineering from Syracuse University and BS from National Central University in Taiwan.

About 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 13,000 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.