HSINCHU, Taiwan, Sep 29, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- UMC (NYSE:UMC) (TSE:2303), 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.

SOURCE: UMC

KJ Communications (In the USA) 
Eileen Elam, 408-927-7753 
eileen@kjcompr.com 
or 
UMC (In Taiwan) 
Alex Hinnawi, (886) 2-2700-6999 ext. 6958

Copyright Business Wire 2008