Environmental Protection Activities Kick Off UMC’s 30th Anniversary
HSINCHU, Taiwan, April 20 /CHICAGOPRESSRELEASE.COM/ — United Microelectronics
Corporation (NYSE: UMC; TAIEX: 2303; UMC), a leading global semiconductor
foundry, will announce its new climate change policy and carbon emission
reduction plans on April 22nd, Earth Day, in its drive to promote low-carbon
living concepts and fulfill the company’s commitment to corporate social
responsibility. This Earth Day announcement will also kick off a one-month
series of related environmental protection activities building up to UMC’s
30th anniversary celebration on May 20th.
UMC’s green efforts include establishing a New Business Development Center
to promote the growth of a low carbon economy by investing across the entire
supply chain of the green technology industry, including renewable energy,
solar energy, and new generation light-emitting diode (LED). The first several
investments focused on the LED and solar energy industries, in companies such
as LED lighting company Power Light Co. and photovoltaic engineering design
company EverRich Energy Corporation. UMC hopes to contribute to energy saving
and carbon reduction through revolutionary breakthroughs in green technologies
and applications, establishing itself as a leader in the green technology
industry while injecting fresh enthusiasm for sustainable development within
the company.
Dr. Shih-Wei Sun, CEO and chairman of UMC’s CSR Committee, will announce
UMC’s climate change policy and carbon emission reduction plans on April 22nd.
The new plans include reduction targets of 33% for normalized perfluorinated
compounds (PFC) emission and 3% for electricity usage by 2012*. It is
estimated that once the plan is completed, CO2 emission will be reduced by
another 170,000 tons each year, bringing the total CO2 emission reduction
achieved through UMC’s carbon reduction measures to 43%, or approximately 1.1
million tons per year. PFC emissions will be reduced by as much as 75% with
the new plan when combined with existing efforts.
Dr. Sun commented, “UMC established a PFC emission reduction team in 1999
in response to global warming. Since then, we have made significant progress
in reaching voluntary reduction goals earlier than the 2010 targets set by the
Taiwan Semiconductor Industry Association (TSIA). As UMC celebrates its 30th
anniversary, this climate change policy announcement illustrates our company’s
expansive vision and targets for carbon reduction during this post-Kyoto
Protocol period. UMC’s climate change policy includes 1) achieving carbon
neutral status via carbon management, 2) becoming a comprehensive low-carbon
solution provider, and 3) leveraging corporate resources to cultivate a low-
carbon economy. These guidelines will enable UMC to respond to climate change
issues and help UMC live up to its vision of being a sustainable green
foundry. UMC will be the advocator of low-carbon innovation, the provider of
low-carbon solutions, and furthermore, the practitioner of low-carbon
activities.”
Achieving carbon neutral status will be the ultimate goal for UMC’s carbon
management program. This goal will be achieved through program measures
including energy saving, emission reduction, supply chain management and low-
carbon products production. In 2007 UMC led the foundry industry in completing
the replacement of C2F6 with C3F8 in all of its fabs, reducing CO2 emissions
by 450,000 tons per year. Furthermore, the more carbon efficient C4F8 was
introduced in 2008. Combined with other energy saving measures and a policy of
furbishing new fabs with highly efficient abatement systems, emission
reduction efficiency has been highly improved.
The month-long series of environmental protection activities will begin on
April 22 with a showing of the environmental documentary “+/-2 degrees
Celsius”. Through these series of activities, UMC hopes to instill energy
saving and carbon reduction values and knowledge to cultivate green habits in
its employees, to further inspire the formation of a low-carbon society, and
to enhance the company’s long-term sustainable competitiveness.
*Note: The base year is 2009.
About UMC
UMC ( UMC, TSE: 2303) is a leading global semiconductor foundry that
provides advanced technology and manufacturing services for applications
spanning every major sector of the IC industry. UMC’s customer-driven foundry
solutions allow chip designers to leverage the strength of the company’s
leading-edge processes, which include production proven 65nm, 45/40nm, mixed
signal/RFCMOS, and a wide range of specialty technologies. Production is
supported through 10 wafer manufacturing facilities that include two advanced
300mm fabs; Fab12A in Taiwan and Singapore-based Fab12i are both in volume
production for a variety of customer products. The company employs
approximately 12,000 people worldwide and has offices in Taiwan, Japan,
Singapore, Europe, and the United States. UMC can be found on the web at
http://www.umc.com.
Editorial Contacts:
In the USA:
Charlene Loveless
Tel: +1-408-523-7850
Email: [email protected]
In Taiwan:
Richard Yu
Tel: +886-2-2700-6999 ext. 6951
Email: [email protected]
SOURCE United Microelectronics Corporation
Distributed via Chicago Press Release Services