Semiconductor Manufacturing International (SMIC) has announced that the company and its subsidiary SMIC Beijing have entered into a joint venture with Beijing Industrial Development Investment Management (BIDIMC) and Zhongguancun Development Group (ZDG) to build a wafer fab focused on 45nm and more advanced process technologies.
SMIC disclosed that it plans to contribute a total of US$660 million in the JV plant, while BIDIMC and ZDG will contribute a combined US$540 million. The investments made by the parties will be used as registered capital for the facility.
Total investment for the JV plant is estimated at US$3.59 billion, according to SMIC. The facility will build up a manufacturing capacity of 35,000 wafer starts per month, said SMIC.
BIDIMC and ZDG are both government-owned enterprises.
SMIC previously disclosed that the foundry's 40/45nm processes will play a major driver of its revenue growth in 2013, thanks to rising demand coming from the mobile device sector. SMIC also indicated the development of its 28nm HKMG and PolySiON process chip production is on track, and will be ready for volume production in the fourth quarter of 2013.
