UMC

United Microelectronics Corporation聯華電子
Current logo.
Origin	Hsinchu, Taiwan
Years	1980-present
Consoles	Game Gear, Standard and enhanced Famiclone hardware, Genesis/Mega Drive clones, Gamate (circa 1992), Super A'Can
Aliases	UMC
Published games by	Hengmao Electronics/Phinnex Co., Ltd. (Gamate & Super A'Can)
Related companies	Subor, Bit Corp.

United Microelectronics Corporation (聯華電子), commonly abbreviated to UMC, is a Taiwanese semiconductor company founded in 1980 which produced many of the chips found in older Famiclones, initially direct clones of the original Nintendo chips and later NES-on-a-chip (NOAC). UMC took over manufacturing and distributing Gamate handheld consoles and games after Bit Corp. went out of business in 1992, and released its own 16-bit console (the Super A'can) through its subsidiary Funtech aka Dunhuang Technology in 1995.

Funtech was dissolved after the failure of the A'can, which lost the company US$6,000,000, and UMC has since left the game industry.

Relationship with Sega

As an attempt to produce more systems to compete against Nintendo's growth in Asia, Sega partnered with UMC in September 1996 to create Mega Drive-compatible chips that could be used by any manufacturer, regardless of their intentions. Any console using the chip could be legally sold as long as they used a special label with the text "UNDER LICENSE FROM SEGA PRODUCED BY U.M.C.". This led to a later model of the Mega Drive II using it, as well as Lite Star's officially licensed Mega Drive 3 plug and play system and some Genesis/Mega Drive VCD/DVD players released by Tanli, BBK, and other companies. UMC also made an expansion module that allows VCD players to run Genesis/Mega Drive titles. Despite being licensed hardware, many of these clones were of rather poor quality. UMC is also said to have distributed the Game Gear.

Enhanced Famiclones

UMC is known to have designed and produced multiple enhanced Famiclone systems that provide extra features such as high-color modes and PCM audio playback, notably in the UM657x line. The UM6578 in particular, also known as the SH6578 and NT6578, is notable for being used in a handful of plug and play systems, including two plug and plays produced and sold in Japan by Bandai in 1997 and various generic multi-game systems, some of which were produced by JungleTac. The UM6576 is near identical to the UM6578 and is used in Subor's SB-2000 educational computer.

External links

• Official site