UMC’s Flagship Fab Designated One of 189 Smart Manufacturing Lighthouses by the World Economic Forum

By: United Microelectronics Corporation via Business Wire

January 14, 2025 at 04:10 AM EST

Fab 12A in Tainan, Taiwan is among 17 new sites joining the Global Lighthouse Network

United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE: UMC; TWSE: 2303)(“UMC”), a leading global semiconductor foundry, today announced that its flagship Fab 12A in Tainan, Taiwan has been selected for the World Economic Forum’s Global Lighthouse Network, a group of 189 sites identified as exemplars in leveraging Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies to enhance operational productivity, efficiency, and sustainable manufacturing. Fab 12A, UMC’s largest production and research & development site, is also the first semiconductor foundry globally to earn Lighthouse status.

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Infographic: More than 48 Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) solutions were deployed at UMC's Fab 12A to enhance operational productivity and efficiency. (Graphic: Business Wire)

Lighthouses are designated by an independent panel of experts based on their effective use of AI, industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), big data analytics, and other digital technologies. The Global Lighthouse Network, co-founded in 2018 by the World Economic Forum and McKinsey & Company, now spans over 30 countries and 35 sectors.

UMC formed a dedicated smart manufacturing division in 2017, and appointed Fab 12A as the pilot fab for digital transformation initiatives, which are subsequently deployed to other UMC sites. To date, more than 48 4IR solutions have been successfully integrated into Fab 12A’s operations and value chain, nearly 95% of which are developed or customized in-house. As a result, Fab 12A has reduced design kit delivery time by 57%, increased product yields to 97%, and raised workforce efficiency by 47%¹, significantly enhancing customer engagement, quality, and profitability.

TS Wu, Vice President of UMC and Head of Digital Office, said, “We are honored to be recognized by the World Economic Forum as a frontrunner in adopting smart manufacturing solutions at scale to transform our business. 4IR is at the center of UMC’s sustainable development, ensuring we can meet customers’ demands in an increasingly competitive market. Smart manufacturing is also about empowering our employees to focus on higher-value work and optimizing resource use to reduce environmental impact. We are excited to serve as a beacon for other manufacturers seeking to harness digital tools as well as to learn from other Lighthouses in the network.”

UMC focuses on the production of specialty semiconductors, which have higher value but poses complex manufacturing challenges with their unique functionalities and strict performance specifications. The 4IR use cases deployed have helped overcome these challenges and expanded customer engagements for UMC’s specialty portfolio, enhancing the company’s overall profitability.

To accelerate time to market for customers, UMC leveraged machine learning tools to shorten design kit creation lead time for new fabrication processes by more than half. To ensure accuracy and timely delivery of photomasks, UMC developed an AI-enabled platform to streamline data handling between the company, customer, and photomask vendor.

In order to reduce cycle time, UMC deployed a machine learning predictive model and intelligent gas deployment system to target key bottleneck tools. Additionally, an intelligent defect root cause analysis system was created, incorporating smart image recognition and automatic AI deciders, to quickly identify process weaknesses and suspected tool issues. This system greatly increased efficiency in defect root cause identification and tool troubleshooting, effectively improving yields.

The Fab 12A site spans three separate but connected fabs, with inter-fab production enabled by an intelligent Automated Material Handling System (AMHS). With 3,000 pieces of equipment and 68 million possible routes a wafer can take throughout its manufacturing process, UMC integrated AI algorithms with the standard AMHS to automatically assign the optimal route. This enhanced worker efficiency and also improved the utilization rate of tools and transportation vehicles.

See WEF’s announcement on the latest wave of new members joining the Global Lighthouse Network, including UMC.

About UMC

UMC (NYSE: UMC, TWSE: 2303) is a leading global semiconductor foundry company. The company provides high-quality IC fabrication services, focusing on logic and various specialty technologies to serve all major sectors of the electronics industry. UMC’s comprehensive IC processing technologies and manufacturing solutions include Logic/Mixed-Signal, embedded High-Voltage, embedded Non-Volatile-Memory, RFSOI, BCD etc. Most of UMC's 12-in and 8-in fabs with its core R&D are located in Taiwan, with additional ones throughout Asia. UMC has a total of 12 fabs in production with combined capacity of more than 400,000 wafers per month (12-in equivalent), and all of them are certified with IATF 16949 automotive quality standard. UMC is headquartered in Hsinchu, Taiwan, plus local offices in United States, Europe, China, Japan, Korea & Singapore, with a worldwide total of 20,000 employees. For more information, please visit: http://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.

¹ All figures in this paragraph show % change between 2019 and 2023.

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Michelle Yun

886-3-578-2258 x16951

michelle_yun@umc.com

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UMC’s Flagship Fab Designated One of 189 Smart Manufacturing Lighthouses by the World Economic Forum

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