UMC's 90-nanometer Manufacturing Technology Sees Strong Acceptance from Industry Leaders

HSINCHU, Taiwan, May 24, 2004 -- UMC, a world leading semiconductor foundry, is driving the foundry industry's migration to 90nm technology, with some of the world's largest IC companies currently utilizing UMC for the fabrication of their most advanced 90nm chips. UMC first announced working 90nm customer silicon in March of 2003, and over the last year has been qualified for volume production by several major customers, including Xilinx, the world leader in programmable logic, and Texas Instruments, the largest supplier of silicon for wireless handsets. The speed of this ramp-to-volume production has surpassed the projections of most industry observers, and puts UMC clearly ahead of its competitors in the foundry industry. Products taking advantage of UMC's 90nm technology are being adopted for use in a wide range of electronic products due to the significant benefits that they offer in terms of performance, power consumption and cost.