United Microelectronics' 12-inch foundry subsidiary in Xiamen, China will be ready for 28nm chip production in the second quarter of 2017 vying for orders from China's local handset chip suppliers.

UMC's transfer of 28nm process technology to subsidiary United Semiconductor (Xiamen) has been approved by the Investment Commission of Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs, according to a company filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The transaction is estimated at US$200 million.

United Semi is a 3-way joint venture foundry between UMC, Xiamen Municipal Government and Fujian Electronics and Information Group. UMC in November 2016 announced the opening of the JV foundry.

United Semi currently produces 11,000 wafers monthly offering mainly 40nm process technology. With production for 28nm chips coming online, the monthly output will expand to 16,000 units by the end of 2017, UMC noted.

Earlier in 2017, UMC announced the availability of mass production for ICs built using the foundry's most-advanced 14nm FinFET technology. The Taiwan-based pure-play foundry is fabricating 14nm customer ICs at its Fab 12A in Tainan, Taiwan and expects to steadily ramp its 14nm manufacturing capacity according to customer demand.

By: DocMemory
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