Faraday 12.5G SerDes PHY Debuts on UMC 28HPC

Faraday Technology Corporation (TWSE: 3035), a leading ASIC design service and
IP provider, and United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE: UMC; TWSE: 2303)
(“UMC”), a leading global semiconductor foundry, today announced the
availability of Faraday’s 12.5Gbps programmable SerDes PHY IP on UMC’s 28HPC(U)
process technology. The success of Faraday’s 12.5G SerDes PHY development marks
the first in a series of joint IP porting projects on UMC’s 28nm High-K Metal
Gate process nodes and beyond.

By adopting a programmable architecture that covers data transfer rate from
1.25G to 12.5G bit per second, this SerDes IP can readily support emerging
10G/1G xPON applications, which is the “last mile” broadband access through
passive optical networks. In addition, the IP supports extensive interface
standards ranging from SGMII, XAUI, QSGMII, USB 3.1, PCIe 3.0, NVM Express, to
SATA 3 by combining respective Physical Coding Sublayer (PCS) circuits. The
versatility of the 12.5G programmable SerDes PHY significantly shortens
customer’s SoC design cycle time on 28HPC(U).

“As the complexity of SoC integration increases along advanced process nodes,
high-speed SerDes PHY technology has become the crucial building block to
address a broad range of high-speed I/O interfaces in SoC applications,” said
Flash Lin, Chief Operation Officer at Faraday. “28nm High-K Metal Gate
technology is widely recognized to be one of foundry industry’s longest node,
while UMC’s 28 HPC(U) demonstrates superior performance over industry
benchmarks. We are happy to expand on our comprehensive portfolio of 28HPC(U)
high speed I/O IP solutions with this 12.5G SerDes, and will extend high
quality service to ensure streamlined adoption of this IP solution.”

“Faraday currently supplies one of the largest silicon verified IP portfolios
across UMC’s processes,” said S.C. Chien, senior vice president of IP
Development and Design Support division at UMC. “Their programmable SerDes PHY
is a welcome addition to our 28HPC(U) platform IP resources to help customers
broaden their opportunities in emerging high-growth applications. We are
looking forward to expanding our collaboration with Faraday for other IP and
process technologies in the future.”