UMC (NYSE: UMC; TWSE: 2303), a global semiconductor foundry, today announced that its board of directors has appointed senior vice presidents SC Chien and Jason Wang as co-presidents of the company, following Po-Wen Yen’s retirement as UMC CEO. The co-presidents are collectively accountable for the overall performance of UMC, and will report to Chairman Stan Hung directly. The transition will become effective immediately.

“Co-presidents Chien and Wang bring complimentary experience and capabilities to enable UMC to have the best minds committed to our most critical decisions and execution ability,” said Chairman Hung. “With their respective roles clearly defined, I anticipate a very smooth transition as we enter the next stage of UMC’s growth. Our priorities going forward will include a high degree of customer focus, consistent operational excellence, clear investment strategy, and maximizing shareholder value.”

Chairman Hung continued, “We would like to extend our sincere appreciation to CEO Yen for his 30+ years of dedicated service. Under his leadership, UMC has established a solid foundation and legacy for our co-presidents to build upon, and we wish him all the best on his retirement as he continues to provide his knowledge, experience, and service to our community and society.”

CEO Yen commented, “It has been a rewarding opportunity to have helped UMC evolve during my five years as the company’s CEO. I am honored to have worked with an exceptionally dedicated and skilled team of executives and managers to bring benefits to UMC and its customers, and firmly believe in the company’s positive direction going forward. I have worked closely with Mr. Chien and Mr. Wang for many years, and am convinced in their ability to lead UMC to new heights as co-presidents. Meanwhile, after my retirement, I look forward to further increasing my involvement in social and charitable activities in order to bring heightened awareness to the importance of mutual prosperity with our surrounding environment and society.”

The responsibilities of the co-presidents will be structured as follows:

• SC Chien will focus on the core manufacturing and technology aspects of UMC including R&D and operations. Mr. Chien possesses more than 30 years of semiconductor R&D experience. He joined UMC in 1989, and throughout his 28 years at UMC, he has led multiple functions within the company, including ATD (advanced technology development), STD (specialty technology development), CE (customer engineering), TTD (technology transfer and development), IPDS (IP & design support) and CM (Corporate marketing).
• Jason Wang will focus on the business aspects of UMC, including corporate strategy & planning, sales & marketing, and customer engineering. Mr. Wang joined UMC as vice president of Corporate Marketing in 2008. From 2009 to 2014, he served as president of UMC-USA responsible for UMC North American business. Most recently, he was senior vice president in charge of Worldwide Sales and Corporate Marketing.