Common Criteria includes seven levels, ranging from EAL 1 to EAL 7, which are respectively classified based on the strictness of their requirements. UMC joins an elite group with its EAL6 certification, as less than 1% of all companies and products worldwide are certified EAL6 or above.

UMC’s qualification of EAL6 Common Criteria level signifies its ability to provide rigorous security protection during the manufacturing process, which is required by most security products deployed in sensitive applications including sovereign documents, ePassports, eID cards, eBanking, and ePayment.

J H Shyu, senior vice president of Production and Operation Integration at UMC said, “We are pleased to become the first foundry in Taiwan to receive ISO 15408 security certification, which is an acknowledgement of our success in implementing rigorous protocols for the foundry manufacturing of security products.”

“EAL6 certification will strengthen UMC’s business development in security products and allow our customers to accelerate time-to-market by shortening the time required for product security verification steps. In addition, in Q1 2015 we expect our Fab 12i in Singapore to follow Fab 12A’s site certification, further demonstrating UMC’s commitment on continuous customer service enhancement.”