UMC first announced working customer silicon at 90-nm in March of 2003 and subsequently announced volume production by Xilinx Inc. and Texas Instruments Inc., the company said.

UMC claimed the speed of its 90-nm ramp-to-volume production puts it ahead of its competitors in the foundry industry.

"Process technology leadership requires a huge commitment in terms of research and development resources. UMC has consistently made that commitment because it is an important part of our fundamental strategy of maximizing the competitiveness of our customer's products. Today, we are extremely happy to see our hard work paying off with the production success of customers utilizing our 90nm foundry services," said Jackson Hu, UMC's chief executive officer, in a statement.

UMC said it expects to expand 90-nm production on 300-mm wafers at its Fab 12A facility in Taiwan, based upon current customer requests, and bring this technology to volume production at UMCi, the 300-mm foundry subsidiary located in Singapore.