UMC acquires 100% ownership of Mie Fujitsu Semiconductor

In 2014, both companies concluded an agreement for UMC to acquire a 15.9 percent stake in MIFS through progressive phases. Since then, besides equity investment, Fujitsu Semiconductor and UMC have been furthering their partnership through licensing of UMC's 40nm technology and establishment of a 40nm logic production line at MIFS. In addition to the 15.9 percent of MIFS shares currently owned by UMC, Fujitsu Semiconductor will transfer the remaining 84.1 percent of its shares in MIFS to UMC, making MIFS a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Taiwan-based foundry. The consideration of the transaction will be around JPY 57.6 billion (EUR 451 million). The transfer is planned for January 1, 2019, pending approval by the relevant governmental authorities. Jason Wang, co-president of UMC, is cited in a press release: "UMC is experiencing high demand from mature 12" processes. With new applications in 5G, IoT, automotive and AI requiring these technologies, we anticipate the market conditions driving this demand to remain strong for the foreseeable future. The acquisition of a fully qualified, equipped, and volume production proven 12" facility provides greater time and ROI advantages compared to building a fab from scratch, which would cost several billion dollars and several years to construct and equip. With existing 300mm fabs in Taiwan, China and Singapore, Japan-based MIFS will help customers further diversify their manufacturing risk with a robust production base to ensure business continuity, which is especially important for automotive chip makers who require a stable and uninterrupted source of supply."