Taiwan-based foundry UMC recently announced its plan to invest China-based Leadcore Technology for 3.5 billion RMB (511.7 million; USD1 = 6.84 RMB) through its nearly 100% subsidiary Hejian Technology, the Economic Daily News reported on February 12. The investment plan will be injected into Leadcore’s 12” wafer foundry which churned out 17,000 wafers by mid-2019, 5,000 of which were wafers manufactured using 28nm technology. In total, UMC’s investment in Leadcore has amounted to 11.8 billion RMB (USD 1.72 billion). Amid the coronavirus outbreak in China, the Chinese semiconductor industry has been developed rapidly in Hubei province where 70 of IC designers, semiconductor manufacturers, and packaging and testing service providers are located with a total of 20 billion RMB (USD 2.9 billion) in annual revenue, according to MIC (Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute), a government think tank and IT research institute in Taiwan. In China, semiconductor ICs fabricated using mature process technology is still mainstream. This will put Taiwanese foundries such as UMC, Powerchip, and VIS at an advantage.