Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Gottfried who wrote (53155)	9/25/2001 7:41:38 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 70976

Pilot production starts at China's first 8-inch foundry By Mike Clendenin EE Times (09/25/01 17:51 p.m. EST) TAIPEI, Taiwan — China's first advanced IC foundry started pilot production Tuesday (Sept. 25), signaling a new era in the country's nascent semiconductor industry. Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC), headquartered in Shanghai, said it started limited production of 8-inch wafers using a 0.25-micron process. The company will churn out about 2,000 wafers per month through the end of the year and then add about 2,000 wafers every month through 2002. "If we ramp at this pace, by the end of next year we should be at about 25,000 wafers per month," said Joseph Xie, senior director of marketing at SMIC. "The total capacity [of Fab 1] is 50,000 wafers, which we should reach in 2003 or early 2004 — it depends on the market." Products will range from specialty DRAMs to high-speed and low-power logic ICs and eventually mixed-signal RF CMOS and a silicon-germanium BiCMOS process by the end of 2002. The company also hopes to migrate to 0.18-micron technology sometime next year. SMIC is among the first wave of advanced fabs to open in China. The only other 8-inch fabs in China are run by Hua Hong-NEC, also in Shanghai, and Motorola, which has a facility in Tianjin running a 0.35-micron process. Next year, SMIC will be joined by the country's second 8-inch wafer foundry, Shanghai's Grace Semiconductor, and perhaps by another in the not so distant future — Shanghai Belling is planning an 8-inch plant near the city as well. The impetus for such a surge in investment is the fact that China can only satisfy 10 to 15 percent of its IC demand. SMIC declined to name its major customers, but said it would do so in December, when the fab holds its official opening ceremony. Xie did say that current clients are from North America and Japan — where its technology partner, Toshiba, is located. Eventually, though, SMIC will turn inward to the domestic market. Its long-term business model is based on dividing its clientele between international and domestic clients. "China design houses are still under development, so we don't yet have customers locally yet. Hopefully in two to three years they will be significant [clients] but definitely not in the first year," Xie said. SMIC is also in the process of building a second 8-inch wafer fab with a capacity of 50,000 wafers per month. That will come online in mid 2002, ramping at a similar growth rate of 2,000 wafers per month.