Semiconductor Manufacturing International (SMIC) is evaluating the possibility of giving up two government-sponsored wafer fabs located in Chengdu and Wuhan, China in order to accelerate its progress towards profitability, according to a Economic Daily News (EDN) report citing industry sources in China.
SMIC manages and operates a 300mm (12-inch) fab in Wuhan and a 200mm (8-inch) fab in Chengdu for their respective local governments, with the former housing a monthly capacity of 20,000 wafers and the latter 70,000, according to the Taiwan-based Chinese-language newspaper.
In response, SMIC said it is evaluating all possible plans and strategies that may benefit its shareholders and facilitate the company's profitability, but so far no decisions have been made yet.
SMIC and the Wuhan city government in September 2008 jointly announced the start of operations at the Wuhan fab. The foundry chipmaker has been managing the 12-inch fab built with financial support from the city government.
SMIC also has a similar partnership with the local government in Chengdu for an 8-inch fab specializing in power management ICs (PWM IC), driver IC and CMOS image sensors.
SMIC in November 2009 named a new chief executive, replacing its founder Richard Chang. The China-based foundry has remained unprofitable since the second quarter of 2007.