UMC Announces 22nm Technology Readiness Following Silicon Validation on World's Smallest USB 2.0 Test Vehicle

UMC’s latest specialty process offering provides competitive performance and a seamless migration path from 28nm to 22nm

Hsinchu, Taiwan, December 2, 2019 – United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE: UMC; TWSE: 2303) ("UMC"), a leading global semiconductor foundry, today announced the technology readiness of its 22nm process technology following first-pass silicon success using a USB 2.0 test vehicle. The USB test vehicle used for the validation exhibited the smallest area compared to general USB 2.0 PHY IP, demonstrating the robust nature of UMC’s 22nm process by pushing its design limits. Customers can confidently design into this 22nm process either with new IC designs or migrating from 28nm using the company’s 28nm to 22nm porting methodology that maintains existing 28nm design architectures.

Y.H. Chen, director of IP Development and Design Support division at UMC, said, “With UMC’s commitment to focusing on providing world leading foundry specialty technologies, UMC continues to introduce new specialty process offerings to serve the rapidly growing markets in 5G, IoT, and automotive ICs. We are excited to now make available our 22nm process to our foundry customers, as we have put forth extensive efforts to ensure the competitive performance, area, and ease of design-in of this technology.”

UMC”s 22nm process features a 10% area reduction, better power-to-performance ratio and enhanced RF capabilities compared to the company’s 28nm High-K/Metal gate process, and is offered in a 22uLP (ultra Low Power) variation that has compatible design rules and the same mask count at the foundry’s 28nm technology, and also a 22uLL (ultra Low Leakage) version. UMC 22uLP and 22uLL form a super set to support a voltage domain from 1.0V to 0.6V, allowing customers to enjoy the benefits of both technologies on system-on-chip (SoC) designs. The 22nm platform is supported by foundation IP and is ideal for a wide variety of semiconductor applications including consumers ICs for set top box, digital TV, surveillance, power or leakage sensitive IoT chips (with Bluetooth or WiFi) and wearable products that require longer battery life.

About UMC

UMC (NYSE: UMC, TWSE: 2303) is a leading global semiconductor foundry. The company provides mature and advanced IC production with a focus on Specialty Technologies to manufacture ICs for applications spanning every major sector of the electronics industry. UMC’s comprehensive foundry solutions enable chip designers to leverage the company’s sophisticated technology and manufacturing, which include high volume 28nm High-K/Metal Gate technology, volume production 14nm FinFET, specialty process platforms specifically developed for 5G, IoT and the automotive industry’s highest-rated AEC-Q100 Grade-0 manufacturing capabilities for the production of ICs found in vehicles. UMC’s 11 wafer fabs are strategically located throughout Asia and are able to produce more than 600,000 wafers per month. The company employs approximately 18,500 people worldwide, with offices in Taiwan, China, Europe, Japan, Korea, Singapore, and the United States. UMC can be found on the web at http://www.umc.com.