Asian Tech Press (Dec 17) -- According to media reports, the board of directors of chip foundry United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) has approved a US$2.7 billion capital expenditure program to purchase wafer fab equipment.

UMC's board of directors has approved a total of NT$76.27 billion in capital expenditures for the purchase of new equipment, equivalent to about US$2.744 billion.

The equipment purchased with the newly approved capital will be used for the production lines in phases 5 and 6 of the wafer 12A fab, which will be used for foundry 12-inch wafers.