| | SMIC obtains special license for advanced U.S. fab gear
By Mark LaPedus
Silicon Strategies
09/30/2003, 11:21 PM ET
SAN JOSE -- Hoping to cut the red tap in procuring U.S.-made fab equipment, Chinese foundry startup Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) today (Sept. 29, 2003) disclosed it has obtained a special import/export license from the U.S. government.
SMIC has received a "special comprehensive license" from the U.S. government, enabling the Chinese company to procure U.S.-made, leading-edge fab-gear more rapidly, said Richard Chang, president and CEO of the Shanghai-based company.
In this type of license, SMIC is reportedly able to procure a raft of new equipment and follow-on orders under one umbrella, according to analysts. This would eliminate the need to file separate licenses on each fab-tool order, which is the standard practice within the current U.S. export regulations, according to analysts.
This is a major boost for U.S. equipment makers--at least for those selling into SMIC. For years, U.S. chip-equipment vendors have complained that they are at a disadvantage over their foreign rivals in selling fab tools into China, due to complex and cloudy export control laws. The series of complex export regulations were formulated at the height of the Cold War with communist countries in the 1970s and 1980s.
SMIC's license stipulates that the company does not make military chips on a foundry basis for semiconductor manufacturers. But the license also cuts U.S. equipment delivery times from six months under the previous export terms, to two weeks "or no more than one month," Chang said.
With the license "we will be able to order 40 percent to 70 percent of our equipment needs" from U.S. suppliers, he said during a presentation at the International Symposium on Semiconductor Manufacturing (ISSM) in San Jose. He also disclosed the company's plans to build three 300-mm fabs (see September 30 story). This is not to say that SMIC can write a blank check. For example, the company had to obtain a standard license for Applied Materials Inc.'s Alta 430 machine, of which Chang calls the world's most advanced pattern-generation, reticle-writing tool. SMIC has its own, captive photomask shop, which is believed to be a leading-edge facility.
The company's special license does not involve European and Japanese equipment suppliers, both of which reportedly have less rigid export laws under their various governments. "Europe does not have restrictions at exporting 0.13-micron (chip-manufacturing technology)," Chang said. "We can also buy the most advanced scanners from ASML. The same is true for Japan."
He was referring to one of SMIC's two main lithography suppliers--ASML Holding NV of the Netherlands. The other scanner supplier for SMIC is Japan's Canon Inc., sources said.
The SMIC executive was also referring to the self-imposed ceiling in the United States, in which U.S. fab-tool makers cannot sell leading-edge equipment into China with an export license. The common belief is that U.S. fab-tool makers cannot sell equipment into China that is capable of making chips at 0.25-micron and below--without, of course, jumping through hoops and obtaining a complex license. |
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