United Microelectronics

United Microelectronics Corporation is a Taiwanese corporation with headquarters in Hsinchu, Taiwan. It was created in 1980 as a spin-off of the government-sponsored Industrial Technology Research Institute as Taiwan's first semiconductor firm. It is also one of the largest Taiwanese companies by market capitalization. UMC is primarily known for its semiconductor foundry business, which produces wafers of integrated circuits for fabless semiconductor businesses. In this function, UMC is behind competitor TSMC. The automotive sector relies heavily on UMC.

To serve all key sectors of the electronics industry, the firm offers high-quality IC fabrication services, with an emphasis on logic and numerous speciality technologies. United Microelectronics's complete IC processing technologies and manufacturing solutions include logic/Mixed-Signal, embedded High-Voltage, embedded Non-Volatile-Memory, RF SOI, and BCD. The majority of UMC's 12-in and 8-in fabs, as well as its main R&D, are situated in Taiwan, with additional facilities dispersed around Asia. UMC now operates 12 fabs with a combined capacity of approximately 800,000 wafers per month (8-in equivalent), all of which are IATF 16949 automotive-quality certified.

In the foundry market, TSMC's closest competition is South Korea's Samsung, however the South Korean semiconductor chain is more based on the chaebol structure of massive corporations with centralized control. The nearly 700 companies that comprise the TSMC supply chain, on the other hand, operate independently, however they must collaborate closely with other companies within the "ecosystem" to guarantee that the supply chain is constantly optimized.

Founded: 1980
Headquarters: Hsinchu, Taiwan
Website: https://www.umc.com/