HSINCHU, Taiwan & SINGAPORE, July 29 — United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE: UMC; TWSE: 2303) (“UMC”), a leading global semiconductor foundry, today announced that its Board of Directors has approved a phased expansion plan to meet growing customer demand. The company will immediately expand cleanroom capacity in Singapore and simultaneously begin construction of a new fab building shell at its flagship Tainan campus in Taiwan.
This dual-track approach is designed to meet near-term customer demand while establishing the structural footprint required to capture future high-growth AI and edge-computing applications. The strategy dramatically reduces future capacity lead times while keeping near-term capital expenditure tightly aligned with secured, long-term customer commitments.
Stan Hung, Chairman of UMC, said: “The rise of generative AI has fundamentally shifted the technology landscape, accelerating demand for technologies enabling higher performance, higher bandwidth, and greater system integration. Today’s announcement is to ensure UMC is positioned to meet this demand through a phased strategy that balances speed, flexibility, and capital discipline.”
Chairman Hung added: “In Singapore, we will invest in the cleanroom installation of the Phase 4 (P4) facility and tool purchases to expand our silicon photonics capacity. With the building shell already built, we can expand cleanroom capacity efficiently as customer demand ramps. In Taiwan, we will construct a new fab building which will house future Phase 7 (P7) and Phase 8 (P8) facilities, creating a robust foundation for UMC to scale new technologies alongside customers’ long-term product roadmaps. This phased strategy allows UMC to maintain exceptional capital discipline, minimizing upfront depreciation while securing our position at the forefront of the AI-driven future.”
The new Tainan fab will reinforce Taiwan as UMC’s global hub for world-class manufacturing and cutting-edge R&D, while expanding UMC’s advanced packaging footprint. The P4 expansion will strengthen Singapore as UMC’s largest site outside of Taiwan, supporting geographic diversification for supply chain resilience, as well as advanced technology development, including silicon photonics. These complementary investments will enhance the company’s ability to provide scalable manufacturing of key technologies supporting next-generation cloud and edge AI applications.