News
41/
Beijing, producteur
international de micro-puces
China joins top
chip makers' ranks
REUTERS [
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2004 10:06:55 AM ] BEIJING:
Extraits
«China's
largest microchip maker opened the country's most advanced
semiconductor manufacturing plant on Saturday, launching China
into the top ranks of the global chip-making industry. Semiconductor
Manufacturing International, founded in 2000 by a Taiwanese
executive who spent 20 years at US chip maker Texas Instruments,
cut the ribbon on its fifth factory at a ceremony in Beijing.
The
plant is China's first to process silicon wafers that are
300-millimeter in diameter. These yield more than twice as
many chips as the previous generation of 200-millimeter wafers.
Only a handful of the world's largest global chip makers in
the United States, Europe, Taiwan and Korea can afford the
billion-dollar investments needed for 300-millimeter factories.
"It's
a breakthrough for China's semiconductor industry," said Byron
Wu, the China research manager for iSuppli, an El-Segundo,
California-based technology market research firm. SMIC, as
the chip maker is known, is the fifth-largest semiconductor
foundry, or company that manufactures chips designed by other
firms. SMIC has counted Texas Instruments, Broadcom and Germany's
Infineon Technologies AG as key customers. Poised to become
the world's largest market for semiconductors in 2006, according
to government estimates, China is rushing to develop a strong
domestic chip industry, of which SMIC represents the crown
jewel. »...
«Overproduction
four years ago, combined with the bursting of the Internet
and telecommunications investment bubbles, brought on the
industry's worst-ever downturn. Chang has shrugged off concerns
about overcapacity, saying his company's factories are virtually
fully booked with customer orders into next year. He adds
that SMIC will be able to ride the wave of China's burgeoning
demand, which could see growth all the way through 2010, even
if demand elsewhere in the world weakens.»
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/864843.cms
