Sensirion gains capacity support from UMC as both companies partner to support the battle against COVID-19

Sensirion products manufactured at UMC include temperature sensors for COVID-19 vaccine transport and flow-sensors for medical ventilators.

Stäfa, Switzerland and Hsinchu, Taiwan (March 8th, 2021) – Sensirion, a leading microsensor manufacturer and United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE: UMC; TWSE: 2303) ("UMC"), a leading global semiconductor foundry, today announced that the two companies have collaborated to manufacture medical related ICs used for the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic. UMC has allocated manufacturing capacity for the production of Sensirion’s temperature sensor ICs for COVID-19 vaccine transport and flow-sensors for medical ventilators, despite global tightness in foundry semiconductor manufacturing capacity.

In the post-pandemic era, the most critical resource is vaccines. However, in addition to adequate supply and different virus variants, a concern facing the global distribution of vaccines is the monitoring of the ambient temperature during the vaccine delivery process. UMC has prioritized Sensirion’s products to help ensure that the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines is preserved during transport and also to address the high volume need for medical-grade ventilators during the pandemic.

Marc von Waldkirch, CEO of Sensirion said, “With its medically certified sensor solutions, Sensirion is an important hub for all manufacturers who need sensor technology to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. To maintain supply, it is essential that a manufacturer has the backing of upstream suppliers when it comes to raw materials such as semiconductor wafers. We would like to thank UMC for their incredible support and are very happy about the excellent cooperation between our two companies.”

"UMC is a world-class international company with a deep commitment to social responsibility,” said Steven Liu, Vice President of Europe and Japan Sales at UMC. “As a member of the global community, since early 2020 UMC has actively prioritized the production of medical related ICs in the fight against COVID-19,” “Being a critical part of the healthcare-related IC supply chain, we will continue to dedicate resources within this area in order to maintain consistent delivery of essential medical products. We are pleased to team up with our valuable partner Sensirion to collectively confront this pandemic.”