Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation
Encyclopedia
Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, (abbrev. SMIC, NYSE: SMI, SEHK: 981) is a semiconductor foundry in mainland China
, providing integrated circuit
(IC) manufacturing services at 350 nm to 45nm technologies. Incorporated in the Cayman Islands
and headquartered in Shanghai
, SMIC has wafer fabrication
sites throughout China
, account management offices in the US, Italy
, and Japan
, marketing and customer service offices in Taiwan
and Israel
, and a representative office in Hong Kong
.
SMIC was founded by Richard Chang (Traditional Chinese: 張汝京) in April 2000. SMIC had its IPO in 2004 and has since become the largest and most advanced semiconductor foundry in mainland China. In August 2011, SMIC named Tzu-Yin Chiu (Traditional Chinese: 邱慈雲) as the CEO, following the death of its chairman Jiang Shang Zhou. Chiu previously worked at TSMC.
education. SMIC Private School graduates have been accepted to schools such as Princeton University
, Columbia University
, Dartmouth College
, Brown University
, UC Berkeley, UCLA, Rice University
, Amherst College
, Williams College
, Wellesley College, Middlebury College
, Georgetown University
, New York University
, University of Michigan
, University of Texas at Austin
, and many others. The school had a finalist, two semi-finalists, and a commended scholar in the National Merit Scholarship Program
.
to build Hope Schools in remote, poverty-stricken areas of China. SMIC staff and friends have supported Project Hope in many remote areas. Employees helped to build schools in the provinces of Gansu
, Yunnan
, Guizhou
, Sichuan
, Qinghai
, and Xinjiang
. In addition, solar energy installations as well as computers were donated. Many employees also joined the earthquake relief efforts in the aftermath of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake
.
SMIC has also been involved in summer programs to bring teachers from rural areas of China to Shanghai to be taught modern teaching skills and methodology.
, accusing SMIC of misappropriating TSMC intellectual property. The first round of litigation ended in 2005 with $175 million settlement. A second round was opened in 2006. The liability phase of the lawsuit began on September 9, 2009 in Oakland, California, and the jury found SMIC liable on 61 out of 65 claims.
SMIC entered into a settlement agreement with TSMC to resolve all pending lawsuits between the parties, including the legal action filed by TSMC in California for which a verdict was returned by the jury against SMIC on November 4, 2009 and the legal action filed by SMIC in Beijing. SMIC and TSMC have entered into a settlement agreement on November 9, 2009 to settle and dismiss the California Case, including all claims and defenses of SMIC yet to be decided in that case and SMIC's appeal in the Beijing Case, thus concluding all pending court litigation between the parties.
Key provisions of the settlement include a mutual release of all claims that were or could have been brought in the pending lawsuits; termination of SMIC's obligation to make remaining payments under the prior settlement agreement between the parties (approximately US$40 million); payment to TSMC of an aggregate of US$200 million; and a grant to TSMC of approximately 8% of SMIC's issued share capital and a warrant which would allow TSMC to obtain total ownership of approximately 10% of SMIC's issued share capital.
Mainland China
Mainland China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term that refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China . According to the Taipei-based Mainland Affairs Council, the term excludes the PRC Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and...
, providing integrated circuit
Integrated circuit
An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit is an electronic circuit manufactured by the patterned diffusion of trace elements into the surface of a thin substrate of semiconductor material...
(IC) manufacturing services at 350 nm to 45nm technologies. Incorporated in the Cayman Islands
Cayman Islands
The Cayman Islands is a British Overseas Territory and overseas territory of the European Union located in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, and Little Cayman, located south of Cuba and northwest of Jamaica...
and headquartered in Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
, SMIC has wafer fabrication
Wafer fabrication
Wafer fabrication is a procedure composed of many repeated sequential processes to produce complete electrical or photonic circuits. Examples include production of radio frequency amplifiers, LEDs, optical computer components, and CPUs for computers...
sites throughout China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, account management offices in the US, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, marketing and customer service offices in Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
and Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, and a representative office in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
.
SMIC was founded by Richard Chang (Traditional Chinese: 張汝京) in April 2000. SMIC had its IPO in 2004 and has since become the largest and most advanced semiconductor foundry in mainland China. In August 2011, SMIC named Tzu-Yin Chiu (Traditional Chinese: 邱慈雲) as the CEO, following the death of its chairman Jiang Shang Zhou. Chiu previously worked at TSMC.
Fabs (0.35um to 40nm)
- 300mm wafer fabrication facility (fab) and three 200mm wafer fabs in its ShanghaiShanghaiShanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
mega-fab - Two 300mm wafer fabs in its BeijingBeijingBeijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
mega-fab - 200mm wafer fab in TianjinTianjin' is a metropolis in northern China and one of the five national central cities of the People's Republic of China. It is governed as a direct-controlled municipality, one of four such designations, and is, thus, under direct administration of the central government...
- 200mm wafer fab under construction in ShenzhenShenzhenShenzhen is a major city in the south of Southern China's Guangdong Province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong. The area became China's first—and one of the most successful—Special Economic Zones...
- In-house assembly and testing facility in ChengduChengduChengdu , formerly transliterated Chengtu, is the capital of Sichuan province in Southwest China. It holds sub-provincial administrative status...
- 300mm wafer fab in WuhanWuhanWuhan is the capital of Hubei province, People's Republic of China, and is the most populous city in Central China. It lies at the east of the Jianghan Plain, and the intersection of the middle reaches of the Yangtze and Han rivers...
owned by Wuhan Xinxin Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation and managed and operated by SMIC
Customer Service/Marketing Offices
- Customer service and marketing offices in the U.S., Europe, and Japan, and a representative office in Hong Kong.
Local Community
SMIC provides low-cost housing to employees in its Living Quarters (LQ). Surrounding the LQ are many restaurants, grocery stores, and shops, as well as a K-12 school, dental clinic, pharmacy, recreational facility, language training center, and music training center.SMIC Private School
SMIC also owns SMIC Private School. The school's initial purpose was to provide low-cost private education for SMIC employees' children, but is now open to non-SMIC employees. SMIC Private School offers lower-priced tuition than others in Shanghai while still maintaining a quality international schoolInternational school
An International school is loosely defined as a school that promotes international education, in an international environment, either by adopting an international curriculum such as that of the International Baccalaureate or Cambridge International Examinations, or by following a national...
education. SMIC Private School graduates have been accepted to schools such as Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
, Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
, UC Berkeley, UCLA, Rice University
Rice University
William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University or Rice, is a private research university located on a heavily wooded campus in Houston, Texas, United States...
, Amherst College
Amherst College
Amherst College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Amherst is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 1,744 students in the fall of 2009...
, Williams College
Williams College
Williams College is a private liberal arts college located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams. Originally a men's college, Williams became co-educational in 1970. Fraternities were also phased out during this...
, Wellesley College, Middlebury College
Middlebury College
Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college located in Middlebury, Vermont, USA. Founded in 1800, it is one of the oldest liberal arts colleges in the United States. Drawing 2,400 undergraduates from all 50 United States and over 70 countries, Middlebury offers 44 majors in the arts,...
, Georgetown University
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
, New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
, University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
, University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
, and many others. The school had a finalist, two semi-finalists, and a commended scholar in the National Merit Scholarship Program
National Merit Scholarship Program
The National Merit Scholarship Program is a United States academic scholarship competition for recognition and college scholarships administered by National Merit Scholarship Corporation , a privately funded, not-for-profit organization. The program began in 1955...
.
Employee Continuing Education
SMIC provides the Employee Continuing Education program to its manufacturing assistants (MAs). MAs are encouraged to participate in preparatory courses for passing college entrance exams, and, with tuition grants provided by the company, can receive their bachelor’s degrees.Remote China
SMIC employee-funded Enyou Foundation partnered with Project HopeProject Hope
Project Hope is a Chinese public service project organized by the China Youth Development Foundation and the Communist Youth League Central Committee. Started on October 30, 1989, it aims to bring schools into poverty-stricken rural areas of China, to help children whose families are too poor...
to build Hope Schools in remote, poverty-stricken areas of China. SMIC staff and friends have supported Project Hope in many remote areas. Employees helped to build schools in the provinces of Gansu
Gansu
' is a province located in the northwest of the People's Republic of China.It lies between the Tibetan and Huangtu plateaus, and borders Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, and Ningxia to the north, Xinjiang and Qinghai to the west, Sichuan to the south, and Shaanxi to the east...
, Yunnan
Yunnan
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...
, Guizhou
Guizhou
' is a province of the People's Republic of China located in the southwestern part of the country. Its provincial capital city is Guiyang.- History :...
, Sichuan
Sichuan
' , known formerly in the West by its postal map spellings of Szechwan or Szechuan is a province in Southwest China with its capital in Chengdu...
, Qinghai
Qinghai
Qinghai ; Oirat Mongolian: ; ; Salar:) is a province of the People's Republic of China, named after Qinghai Lake...
, and Xinjiang
Xinjiang
Xinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and spans over 1.6 million km2...
. In addition, solar energy installations as well as computers were donated. Many employees also joined the earthquake relief efforts in the aftermath of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake
2008 Sichuan earthquake
The 2008 Sichuan earthquake or the Great Sichuan Earthquake was a deadly earthquake that measured at 8.0 Msand 7.9 Mw occurred at 14:28:01 CST...
.
SMIC has also been involved in summer programs to bring teachers from rural areas of China to Shanghai to be taught modern teaching skills and methodology.
Milestones
- On November 10, 2009, SMIC announced the appointment of Dr. David N.K. WangDavid N.K. WangDr. David N. K. Wang is currently CEO of Semiconductor Manufacturing Int'l . He is a well known executive with extensive experience in the global semiconductor industry. Dr. Wang was the chief executive officer of Huahong Co., Ltd. and chairman of Huahong NEC , a subsidiary of the Huahong Group...
as an Executive Director of the Board and the President and CEO.
- In early 2009, Harvard Business SchoolHarvard Business SchoolHarvard Business School is the graduate business school of Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, United States and is widely recognized as one of the top business schools in the world. The school offers the world's largest full-time MBA program, doctoral programs, and many executive...
wrote a case study on SMIC's business model, characterized as a Reverse Build-Operate-TransferBuild-Operate-TransferBuild-own-operate-transfer or build-operate-transfer is a form of project financing, wherein a private entity receives a concession from the private or public sector to finance, design, construct, and operate a facility stated in the concession contract...
(BOT). The case study found that SMIC is executing a strategy that leverages the desires of municipalities in China to build clusters of high technology companies. By partnering with those cities to build new semiconductor fabs that SMIC would then operate under contract, the company could build scale without necessarily confronting immediate large capital outlays. Unlike the Build-Operate-Transfer model that some municipalities were using to build infrastructure like the new subway in Shenzhen, in the SMIC "Reverse BOT model" a municipality would build a capital intensive fab and SMIC would operate it, sharply lowering its capital costs. This model gave the company a unique level of flexibility in an industry where capital costs were the major driver of product costs.
- In October 2007, the United States Government enrolled SMIC in its Validated End User (VEU) program, as a trusted customer of regulated U.S. technology, thereby reducing many of the export control barriers for SMIC.
End of TSMC v. SMIC Litigation
The company was the target of a lawsuit brought by Taiwan's TSMCTSMC
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Limited or TSMC is the world's largest dedicated independent semiconductor foundry, with its headquarters and main operations located in the Hsinchu Science Park in Hsinchu, Taiwan.-Overview:...
, accusing SMIC of misappropriating TSMC intellectual property. The first round of litigation ended in 2005 with $175 million settlement. A second round was opened in 2006. The liability phase of the lawsuit began on September 9, 2009 in Oakland, California, and the jury found SMIC liable on 61 out of 65 claims.
SMIC entered into a settlement agreement with TSMC to resolve all pending lawsuits between the parties, including the legal action filed by TSMC in California for which a verdict was returned by the jury against SMIC on November 4, 2009 and the legal action filed by SMIC in Beijing. SMIC and TSMC have entered into a settlement agreement on November 9, 2009 to settle and dismiss the California Case, including all claims and defenses of SMIC yet to be decided in that case and SMIC's appeal in the Beijing Case, thus concluding all pending court litigation between the parties.
Key provisions of the settlement include a mutual release of all claims that were or could have been brought in the pending lawsuits; termination of SMIC's obligation to make remaining payments under the prior settlement agreement between the parties (approximately US$40 million); payment to TSMC of an aggregate of US$200 million; and a grant to TSMC of approximately 8% of SMIC's issued share capital and a warrant which would allow TSMC to obtain total ownership of approximately 10% of SMIC's issued share capital.
External links
- SMIC - official website
- 2009 Annual Report
- Corporate Social Responsibility at SMIC