UMC Launches Most Advanced 22nm eHV Platform to Power Next-Generation Smartphone Displays

HSINCHU, Taiwan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE: UMC; TWSE: 2303) (“UMC”), a leading global semiconductor foundry, today announced the availability of its 22nm embedded high voltage (eHV) technology platform, the most advanced display driver IC foundry solution in the market to power premium displays for smartphones and other mobile devices. With unmatched power efficiency and reduced die size, the new platform, 22eHV, enables mobile device manufacturers to enhance battery life of their products while offering superior visual experiences.

To accommodate for the rising penetration of AMOLED displays in smartphones, UMC is the first in the industry to launch a 22nm eHV platform, which reduces core device power consumption by up to 30% compared to 28m eHV processes. The new display driver IC (DDIC) solution also boasts the industry’s smallest SRAM bit cells, reducing die area by 10%, as well as improved image processing speed for high-resolution images and fast response time.

“We are proud to be the first in the industry to introduce a 22nm eHV solution, empowering our customers to develop compact, power-efficient display drivers for next-generation smartphones,” said Steven Hsu, UMC’s Vice President of Technology Development. “UMC has been the undisputed foundry leader in the AMOLED DDIC market since we started 28nm eHV production in 2020. With the launch of 22eHV, we once again demonstrate our world-class eHV capabilities and commitment to enabling our customers’ product roadmaps. Beyond 22nm, our development teams are working on expanding our eHV portfolio to FinFET in anticipation of future display trends.”

With decades of experience in DDIC technology development and wafer manufacturing, UMC was the first pure-play foundry to begin mass production of 28nm small-panel DDICs. Since then, UMC has dominated the 28nm small-panel DDIC market with more than 90% share*. Small-panel DDICs are used to power AMOLED and OLED displays in smartphones, tablets, IoT devices, and virtual reality/augmented reality applications.

*According to data from UMC and Omdia

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, BCD etc. Most of UMC's 12-in and 8-in fabs with its core R&D are located in Taiwan, with additional ones throughout Asia. UMC has a total of 12 fabs in production with combined capacity of more than 400,000 wafers per month (12-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 a worldwide total of 20,000 employees. For more information, please visit: 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 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.