February 26, 2004 – Taiwan foundry United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) has agreed to buy the chipmaking unit of Silicon Integrated Systems Corp. (SiS) for $321 million.
SiS Microelectronics Corp., spun off in December 2003 with a 200mm factory and capitalization of about $240.5 million, will turn its energies toward IC design.
UMC, meanwhile, answers a need for extra capacity as its utilization nears 100%, and the acquisition is cheaper than building out a new fab.