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TAP TIMES          -6-                            SEPTEMBER 2022



                        Taiwan (from 4)                         company is now legally headquartered in
                                                                the U.S. with operations in New York state

        based foundry United Microelectronics                   and elsewhere.
        Corp. UMC, according to NASDAQ, holds 16
        percent of the silicon foundry market.                  Finally, fifth place belongs to China-based
        The company claims it fabs more 300mm                   Semiconductor Manufacturing Internation-
        wafers than anyone else.                                al Corp.


        UMC operates a dozen fab throughout Asia,               Although Samsung appears second on
        which accounted for 57 percent of its rev-              many lists, since so much of the Korean
        enue in 2020.  The company says it                      giant’s output finds its way to Samsung’s
        currently produces the 200mm equivalent                 own products, realistically UMC may rank
        of 800,000 wafers/month.                                second in outsourcing its foundry work.

        70 percent of the market                                Taiwan’s first semiconductor company
        If NASDAQ’s figures are correct — or even               UMC was founded in 1980 as Taiwan’s first
        close proportionately — this little island              semiconductor maker.  It was spun-off
        fortress holds over 70 percent of the out-              from the government-sponsored ITRI and
        sourced silicon device manufacturing mar-               is headquartered in Hsinchu.
        ket worldwide.
                                                                In 2022 UMC’s sales were 160 million NTD,
        Fourth place goes to GlobalFoundries,                   ($52.81 million) a 37.7 percent gain over
        which is now headquartered in Malta, N.Y.               2021 sales of 116 NTD ($38.2 million).
        Orignally, partially owned by Advanced                  UMC operates 12 wafer fabs throughout
        Micro Devices as a captive foundry for its              Asia.
        semiconductors, GF was headquartered in
        the UAE and majority-owned by a UAE in-                 One advanced 300mm fab is in Taiwan, a
        vestment consortium.                                    second 300mm fab is in Singapore; a third
                                                                is in Xiamen, China and the fourth, ac-
        AMD has sold its interest in GF, and the                quired in 2019, is USJC in Kuwana, Japan.
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        Tsinchu, Taiwan-based UMC Fab 12 is on of three of the company’s 300mm fabs.  It operates with a high degree of automation, includ-
        ing Front Opening Unified Pods and  Overhead Rail Guided Vehicles. (UMC)
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