UMC fab joins Global Lighthouse Network as 1st semiconductor foundry

Taipei, Jan. 15 (CNA) Contract chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp.'s (UMC) flagship fab in southern Taiwan has been selected for the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Global Lighthouse Network, becoming the first semiconductor foundry in the world to earn Lighthouse status, the company said Tuesday.

UMC, the second largest contract chipmaker in Taiwan, announced in a statement that its Fab 12A in Tainan, the company's largest production and research and development site, earned the esteemed status.

The WEF's Global Lighthouse Network is "a group of 189 sites identified as exemplars in leveraging Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies to enhance operational productivity, efficiency, and sustainable manufacturing," UMC said.

It also explained "lighthouses" are designated by an independent panel of experts based on their effective use of artificial intelligence (AI), industrial Internet of Things, big data analytics, and other digital technologies.

UMC said that it formed a dedicated smart manufacturing division in 2017, and appointed Fab 12A as the pilot fab for digital transformation initiatives, which are subsequently deployed to other UMC sites.

"To date, more than 48 4IR solutions have been successfully integrated into Fab 12A's operations and value chain, nearly 95% of which are developed or customized in-house.

"As a result, Fab 12A has reduced design kit delivery time by 57%, increased product yields to 97%, and raised workforce efficiency by 47%1, significantly enhancing customer engagement, quality, and profitability," the Hsinchu-headquartered chipmaker said.

In the statement, UMC Vice President and Digital Office head TS Wu (吳宗賢) said the company is honored to be recognized by the WEF as "a frontrunner in adopting smart manufacturing solutions at scale to transform our business."

The WEF co-founded the Global Lighthouse Network with McKinsey & Company in 2018. This initiative serves as a platform for industry leaders to share insights and best practices, aiming to inspire manufacturers to innovate, replicate, and scale advancements in their operations, according to information on the WEF's website.

The WEF said in a press release on Tuesday that the UMC fab is one of 17 new members added to the network, citing the company's use of an AI defect analysis system to raise yields to 97 percent as an example of its "agile strategies to deploy over 48 4IR use cases."

Existing Lighthouses in Taiwan include American chipmaker Micron Technology's facility in Taichung, IC packaging and testing services provider ASE Technology's bumping factory in Kaohsiung, and Foxconn Technology Group's subsidiary Ingrasys, a cloud infrastructure provider based in Taoyuan.