SMIC Gets $300M Loan to Expand Tianjin Semiconductor Plant

Semiconductor Manufacturing International (SMIC), China’s largest chip maker, will use a US$300 million loan to expand its production capacity, the company said.

SMIC received the five-year loan from a consortium of Chinese banks led by China Construction Bank. The funds will be used to expand production capacity at SMIC’s 200-millimeter (8-inch) factory in Tianjin, in northeastern China.

The company did not offer details of its expansion plans for the Tianjin plant, which uses 200-millimeter silicon wafers to produce chips using manufacturing processes capable of making features as small as 150 nanometers.

SMIC, which also operates chip-making plants in Shanghai and Beijing, plans to spend US$1.1 billion on capital expenditures this year.

SMIC has struggled financially in recent quarters, hurt by its reliance on revenue from dynamic RAM production. In an effort to return to profitability, the company has tried to expand its production of other products, which are more profitable to produce. Executives have said they expect to return to profitability by the third quarter of this year.

-Sumner Lemon, IDG News Service

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