UMC Drives Low-Carbon Supply Chain with GHG Inventory Initiative

The initiative aims to cut supply chain emissions by 20% by 2030

HSINCHU, Taiwan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE: UMC; TWSE: 2303) (“UMC”), a leading semiconductor foundry, announced today that it has launched the Supply Chain Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Inventory Initiative. By providing tools and resources for measuring and managing emissions, UMC aims to assist 500 suppliers in completing their GHG inventories, striving towards its goal of 20% reduction in supply chain emissions by 2030.

The new initiative was unveiled during UMC’s annual supplier summit today, which brought together more than 200 partners, including GlobalWafers Co, Ltd., Photronics DNP Mask Corp. (PDMC), Merck, Applied Materials, Inc., and KLA Corporation. Suppliers will have access to a GHG inventory platform, which automatically calculates emissions based on its built-in database and methodology in line with global standards. The external consultant team engaged by UMC will also help suppliers set reduction targets and systematically work towards their goals. UMC expects to invest approximately NT$100 million (US$3.1 million) in this program.

SC Chien, UMC’s Co-President and Chief Sustainability Officer, said: “UMC obtained validation of our climate goals by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) earlier this year, which speaks to our strong determination to execute our net zero by 2050 roadmap. As part of our commitment, we must also tackle supply chain emissions together with our suppliers. It takes collective action to create meaningful impact in the global fight against climate change, and UMC is pleased to be able to share our resources and experience through this initiative in order to maximize our contribution to a more sustainable future.”

Louis Hsieh, Associate Vice President of Operations Support, said: “Companies are increasingly taking action to reduce their carbon footprints, and taking stock of emission sources is a crucial first step. Having a proactive reduction plan in place also improves corporate competitiveness as many major businesses today include GHG emissions as a component in their supplier evaluations. To help suppliers overcome resource constraints when it comes to GHG management, we are excited to introduce this initiative and work alongside our partners to accelerate carbon transition in the supply chain.”

From 2017 to 2020, UMC led a group of suppliers to reduce a total of 409,000 tons of CO₂ equivalent through its Triple R League program. The initiative announced today builds on that same spirit of partnership for greater sustainability impact, and will be bigger in scale and ambition.

About UMC

UMC (NYSE: UMC, TWSE: 2303) is a leading global semiconductor foundry company. The company provides high quality IC fabrication services, focusing on logic and various specialty technologies to serve all major sectors of the electronics industry. UMC’s comprehensive IC processing technologies and manufacturing solutions include Logic/Mixed-Signal, embedded High-Voltage, embedded Non-Volatile-Memory, RFSOI and BCD etc. Most of UMC's 12-in & 8-in fabs with its core R&D are located in Taiwan, with additional ones throughout Asia. UMC has total 12 fabs in production with combined capacity over 800,000 wafers per month (8-in equivalent), and all of them are certified with IATF 16949 automotive quality standard. UMC is headquartered in Hsinchu, Taiwan, plus local offices in United States, Europe, China, Japan, Korea & Singapore, with worldwide total 20,000 employees. For more information, please visit: https://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 introduction of new services and technologies, future outsourcing, competition, wafer capacity, 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. 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.