UMC to Start 14nm Shipments in Q1

Peter Clarke, EETimes
2/2/2017 12:05 PM EST

LONDON--Taiwanese foundry United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) plans to start shipments of its 14nm FinFET in the first quarter of 2017, according to the company's CEO.

This represents a general acceleration of UMC's plans to bring the manufacturing process to market. In April 2016, UMC was talking about commercial production in the second half of 2017. In October 2016, UMC reportedly discussed moving the process to volume production in 2Q17 with Bitcoin mining company BitFury set to be the first customer.

In conference call to discuss UMC's 4Q16 financial results, Po Wen Yen, CEO of UMC, said: "With regard to our advanced 14-nanometer technology, we have recently made substantial progress for this advanced node. Following intensive engineering activities with our customer, UMC’s 14-nanometer transistor performance has delivered speed and leakage results which are comparable with the industry’s 14-nanometer standards. Our yields have fulfilled customer requirements, and we anticipate 14-nanometer wafer shipments to commence in first quarter 2017, highlighting our determined efforts to reach this important milestone."

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