UMC to Expand Singapore Fab and Build New Fab in Tainan to Meet Growing AI Demand

United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC), a major global semiconductor foundry, has approved a phased expansion plan aimed at meeting rising customer demand. The company will immediately expand its cleanroom capacity in Singapore while simultaneously starting construction of a new fab building shell at its main campus in Tainan, Taiwan.

The approach combines two tracks: expanding existing capacity quickly to meet near-term demand, while also laying the physical groundwork needed to capture future growth tied to AI and edge computing. UMC says this strategy significantly cuts down how long it will take to bring future capacity online, while keeping near-term spending closely tied to customer commitments it already has secured, rather than building speculatively ahead of demand.

Stan Hung, chairman of UMC, said the rise of generative AI has fundamentally reshaped the technology landscape, accelerating demand for chip technologies that offer higher performance, greater bandwidth, and tighter system integration, and that today's announcement is meant to position UMC to meet that demand through a phased approach balancing speed, flexibility, and financial discipline.

Hung said that in Singapore, UMC will invest in installing cleanrooms for its Phase 4 facility, along with purchasing equipment to expand its silicon photonics capacity, technology that uses lig...