Chinese chipmaker SMIC to invest US$280 million in advanced assembly line with Qualcomm as domestic industry grows

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC), China's biggest contract manufacturer of integrated circuits, is teaming up with Qualcomm to invest US$280 million in the development of an advanced assembly package line for the country's growing chip industry.

Shanghai-based SMIC and a subsidiary of Qualcomm, the world's leading supplier of mobile chips, signed on Wednesday a non-legally binding term sheet to invest in SJ Semiconductor, a specialist in advanced wafer-level packaging and testing based in the eastern coastal province of Jiangsu.

That deal is backed by China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund Company, the national fund established in September last year to support the domestic semiconductor industry's expansion initiatives.

SJ Semiconductor is a joint venture formed in August last year by SMIC and Jiangsu Changjiang Electronics Technology, a semiconductor assembly and testing services provider that is listed in Shanghai.

Chiu Tzu-yin, the chief executive at SMIC, said the investment in SJ Semiconductor will expedite the venture's roll-out of mainland China's first "bumping" production process for 12-inch wafers, putting it on track for mass production at the start of next year.