Taipei, May 18, 2012 (CENS)–Semiconductor Manufacturing International Co. (SMIC), currently the No.1 chipmaker in mainland China, recently announced it has singed agreements with the Beijing Municipal Government’s organizations over co-opening an advanced silicon wafer fab in the chipmaker’s factory area in the city.

The deal came to light at the Hong Kong Stock Exchanges & Clearing Ltd., where SMIC is listed. According to the announcement, the chipmakers signed pacts with several municipal organizations, including Beijing Municipal Commission of Economy and Information Technology over the joint venture deal.

The joint venture is designed to have maximum output capacity of 70,000 300mm wafers a month. According to news wire services, the venture’s production project will be implemented in two stages and process technologies ranging from 20nm to 45nm nodes will be applied.

However, details on investment capital and shareholding percentage were not disclosed.

SMIC executives pointed out that the cooperation will allow the company’s Beijing factory to enlarge production scale at inexpensive cost. They added that while the Beijing government had been seeking to convince innovation-driven high-tech companies to root in the municipal city, it is natural for the government to come to the company, which has been in the industry for a decade and has leading-edge chip-making technologies.

SMIC’s Beijing subsidiary began foundry production in September 1994 and started volume production based on 90nm, 65nm and 55nm process technologies in 2006, 2009 and 2011, respectively. The subsidiary opened the mainland’s first 300mm wafer fab in 2004, making Beijing the mainland’s home to 300mm wafer production.

SMIC projects its capital expenditure for this year at US$450 million.

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