Chinese pure-play foundry Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) has started construction on a new 12-inch wafer fab in Shanghai in order to increase its production and development of next-generation semiconductors.
The new fab will help SMIC’s goal of achieving continued growth for the next three to four years, and the company hopes to achieve 20% growth annually during that time. Currently SMIC has 8-inch and 12-inch fabs in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Tianjin and Italy.
The company says it has achieved 17 consecutive quarters of profit and is close to full production capacity and reported revenues of $1.3 billion for the first half of the year. It also says this new fab will help the foundry manage its production capacity and arrange facility expansions based on customer and market demand.
“The start of our new 12-inch wafer fab in SMIC Shanghai will not only help to meet our growing customer demand for advanced production, but also further strengthen and expand SMIC itself,” says Dr. Zixue Zhou, chairman of SMIC.
