Shanghai's SMIC foundry tries to accelerate fab launch this year

BEIJING - China's Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) today (March 28) announced it has accelerated its production schedule by about two months in an effort to hurry the company's entry into the silicon foundry business.

The Shanghai-based foundry startup was originally aiming to begin pilot production in its new 8-inch wafer fab in November, but now it hopes to start up that phase in September, said Richard Chang, president and chief executive officer of SMIC.

"We are two months ahead of schedule," said Chang, who made the announcement during a presentation at the Semicon China 2001 trade show in Beijing. "We can start pilot production as early as September," he added.

SMIC is getting its sub-micron technology from Japan's Toshiba Corp. SMIC plans to ramp up at least one 8-inch fab in the first phase of its launch, but the company also expects to build two more 8-inch plants as well, said officials at the Semicon China presentation. Earlier this week, officials hinted that a 12-inch (300-mm) wafer pilot line could be also brought installed in a second fab facility (see March 26 story).

In a brief interview after today's presentation, Chang said SMIC intends to accelerate its overall production schedule. Initially, SMIC will process 2,000-to-3,000 wafers per month, he said "We will ramp up quickly," he promised.