Image Source : China Visual

BEIJING, August 29  (TMTPOST) — China's largest and most important chipmaker SMIC planned to build a new 12-inch wafer foundry line in Tianjin with a planned capacity of 100,000 wafers per month and the 28nm to 180nm process technology, the company announced on the evening of last Friday. The total investment of the project is USD 7.5 billion.

SMIC, together with Tianjin Xiqing Economic Development Co Ltd and Xiqing Economic-Technological Development Area Management Committee, signed the "Framework Agreement for Cooperation on SMIC Tianjin 12-inch Wafer Foundry Production Line Project".

According to the Agreement, SMIC intends to establish a manufacturing-type independent legal entity in the Xiqing Economic-Technological Development Area through a wholly-owned subsidiary with a registered capital of US$5 billion. SMIC promised that the newly established company will participate in the bidding of the project site for the construction of the 12-inch wafer production line project in accordance with the agreed conditions and procedures.

The proposed investment project is in line with SMIC 's development plan and will contribute to the long-term development of the company. The project is financed by its own funds and self-financing funds, and will not have a significant impact on the company's finance and operating performance, and will not be detrimental to the interests of the listed company and all shareholders.

Despite the overall downturn in the semiconductor market, SMIC's production expansion has not slowed down. In the past two years, due to the global "core shortage", major foundries have expanded their production. SMIC has continued to expand its 12-inch and 8-inch production lines, and has also built new 12-inch production lines in Beijing, Shenzhen and Shanghai.

The financial report shows that SMIC increased its equivalent 8-inch 53,000 wafers per month capacity in the first half of 2022, and the progress is in line with expectations.

As the leading foundry in mainland China, SMIC's share ranks fifth in the global market, but is still far from the two giants TSMC and Samsung. According to market research firm TrendForce, TSMC and Samsung's share of the global foundry market was 53.6% and 16.3% respectively in the first quarter of 2022. SMIC's share was 5.6% in the same period.

本文内容来源：钛媒体英文站