HSINCHU, Taiwan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

UMC (NYSE: UMC; TWSE: 2303), a leading global semiconductor foundry, today announced that its board of directors has appointed senior vice presidents SC Chien and Jason Wang as co-presidents of the company, following Po-Wen Yen’s retirement as UMC CEO. The co-presidents are collectively accountable for the overall performance of UMC, and will report to Chairman Stan Hung directly. The transition will become effective immediately.

“Co-presidents Chien and Wang bring complimentary experience and capabilities to enable UMC to have the best minds committed to our most critical decisions and execution ability,” said Chairman Hung. “With their respective roles clearly defined, I anticipate a very smooth transition as we enter the next stage of UMC’s growth. Our priorities going forward will include a high degree of customer focus, consistent operational excellence, clear investment strategy, and maximizing shareholder value.”

Chairman Hung continued, “We would like to extend our sincere appreciation to CEO Yen for his 30+ years of dedicated service. Under his leadership, UMC has established a solid foundation and legacy for our co-presidents to build upon, and we wish him all the best on his retirement as he continues to provide his knowledge, experience, and service to our community and society.”

CEO Yen commented, “It has been a rewarding opportunity to have helped UMC evolve during my five years as the company’s CEO. I am honored to have worked with an exceptionally dedicated and skilled team of executives and managers to bring benefits to UMC and its customers, and firmly believe in the company’s positive direction going forward. I have worked closely with Mr. Chien and Mr. Wang for many years, and am convinced in their ability to lead UMC to new heights as co-presidents. Meanwhile, after my retirement, I look forward to further increasing my involvement in social and charitable activities in order to bring heightened awareness to the importance of mutual prosperity with our surrounding environment and society.”

The responsibilities of the co-presidents will be structured as follows:

• SC Chien will focus on the core manufacturing and technology aspects of UMC including R&D and operations. Mr. Chien possesses more than 30 years of semiconductor R&D experience. He joined UMC in 1989, and throughout his 28 years at UMC, he has led multiple functions within the company, including ATD (advanced technology development), STD (specialty technology development), CE (customer engineering), TTD (technology transfer and development), IPDS (IP & design support) and CM (Corporate marketing).
• Jason Wang will focus on the business aspects of UMC, including corporate strategy & planning, sales & marketing, and customer engineering. Mr. Wang joined UMC as vice president of Corporate Marketing in 2008. From 2009 to 2014, he served as president of UMC-USA responsible for UMC North American business. Most recently, he was senior vice president in charge of Worldwide Sales and Corporate Marketing.

About UMC

UMC (NYSE: UMC, TWSE: 2303) is a leading global semiconductor foundry that provides advanced IC production 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, 14nm FinFET mass production, ultra-low power platform processes specifically developed for Internet of Things (IoT) applications 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 nearly 600,000 wafers per month. The company employs over 19,000 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.

Note from UMC Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

Some of the statements in the foregoing announcement are forward looking within the meaning of the U.S. Federal Securities laws, including statements about future outsourcing, wafer capacity, technologies, business relationships and market conditions. Investors are cautioned that actual events and results could differ materially from these statements as a result of a variety of factors, including conditions in the overall semiconductor market and economy; acceptance and demand for products from UMC; and technological and development risks. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in UMC’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including its registration statements and reports on Forms F-1, F-3, F-6 and 20-F and 6-K, in each case as amended. UMC does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under applicable law.

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