SMIC’s new Shenzhen semiconductor plant offers glimpse at China’s effort to fight global chip shortage

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp’s next chip fabrication plant covers nearly 35,000 square metres and will focus on mature technologies

A document from a district government in Shenzhen revealed new details about the plant, which is part of China’s effort to boost domestic semiconductor capacity

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Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp’s headquarters in Shanghai on March 23. The chip maker’s US$2 billion plant in Shenzhen will cover nearly 35,000 square metres, and it is just one of the company’s projects aimed at boosting domestic semiconductor capacity. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 9:00pm, 26 Oct 2021Updated: 10:48pm, 26 Oct 2021

A new chip fabrication plant from Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) will cover a land area equal to about five football fields and mainly produce display driver and power management chips using mature technologies, according to a document published by the government of Shenzhen’s Pingshan district.

The document, which was published last week, offers a glimpse at a key project in China’s effort to boost local semiconductor production to address the ongoing global chip shortage.

A production line for 12-inch wafers will take “display drivers, image sensing and power management products as an entry point, reserving compatibility for other types of products”, the document said.

SMIC previously said that it was working with the Shenzhen government to invest US$2.35 billion into the chip plant, with the aim of producing 40,000 12-inch wafers per month using the 28-nanometre node process or higher.

The plant is just one of multiple ongoing projects that SMIC initiated to help boost China’s domestic semiconductor supply, although mainland China’s top foundry remains years behind its cross-strait rival Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) in technological sophistication and output capacity. TSMC is the world’s largest contract chip manufacturer.

Supporting facilities for SMIC’s Shenzhen plant will cover a total construction area of 69,410 square metres and a land area of 34,700 square metres. By comparison, TSMC facilities that started construction in the US state of Arizona over the summer are expected to to span more than 353,000 square metres, according to city of Phoenix government documents.

While the new TSMC plant will employ the advanced 5-nm node process, the SMIC plant will be using processes from 150 nm to 28 nm.