SMIC plans $9bn 300mm fab
When completed the wafer fab could be the largest in China. The company made the announcement by way of a filing with stock exchanges on Friday. It is listed in Shanghai and Beijing.
The wafer fab is reportedly targeting 28nm manufacturing processes even though SMIC is bringing up a 14nm FinFET process and claims to have a so-called N+1 process equivalent to about 8nm. However, SMIC has been targeted by the US government as a company that others need special licenses to supply. This is thought to have prevented access to extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) machines from ASML that are vital for leading-edge chip manufacturing.
The factory will be built as joint venture between SMIC and the Pilot Free Trade Zone Lin-Gang Special Area Administration in Shanghai. SMIC will own 51 percent of the venture and the Shanghai municipal government 25 percent. Third-party investors will be sought to take up the remainder of the stake, the statement said.
The 300mm Shanghai fab is expected to have a production capacity of 100,000 wafer starts per month and expects to avoid US sanctions by focusing on 28nm and earlier nodes. No indication was given of the time line for the construction and commissioning of the wafer fab but the announcement is in addition to plans for wafer fabs in Beijing and Shenzhen.
Related links and articles:
News articles:
- President Biden expands Trump’s Chinese blacklist
- US lobbied hard to deny China EUV lithography
- Report: Huawei to open up wafer fab in Wuhan
Other articles on eeNews Europe
- Renesas completes €4.8bn acquisition of Dialog Semiconductor
- First stacked SPAD ToF depth sensor for automotive LiDAR
- Wittenstein sets up €5m foundation
- SDK turns iPhones into head and eye tracker
- Philips completes sale of domestic appliances business
- Nexperia defends Newport deal
- TSMC price rise to drive global equipment costs
- Marvell founders back data centre RISC-V chiplet startup