Shanghai Huali Microelectronics Co.,Ltd.(hereinafter referred to as"Huali"),a 909 project upgrade project in China's semiconductor industry,will start trial production in early April this year.This is also the first 12-inch semiconductor factory project invested entirely by state-owned funds so far.
According to the China Business News,from the official website of Huali,on January 17,the meeting of Huali's management organization was determined after research,based on the progress of the project equipment installation and commissioning and the progress of the preliminary technical preparations,and the production capacity in 2011 has been fully implemented by the customer.Under the circumstances,the project will enter the product trial production stage in early April,and realize the large-scale mass production of 65-nanometer logic technology products within this year.At the same time,the project will carry out the selection and ordering of the second batch of equipment in accordance with the technical level requirements of the 45-nanometer products,so as to prepare for the trial production and mass production of the 45-nanometer products next year.
Huali’s starting process is higher than SMIC’s[0.65 1.56%]Beijing 12-inch plant,which started at 90 nanometers when it was put into production.The content of Huali's official website shows that in 2011,its 65-nanometer logic process products will reach mass production.At the same time,the selection and ordering of the second batch of equipment will be prepared for trial production and large-scale mass production next year in accordance with the technical level requirements of 45 nanometer products.
This is related to a strategic cooperation reached by Huali in late May last year.At that time,it signed the"Cooperation Agreement on Technology Joint Development and Transfer"with the Belgian IMEC Microelectronics R&D Center,and the two parties cooperated in the development of 65-nanometer processes.IMEC is a world-renowned independent public R&D platform for semiconductors.It has extensive cooperation with industry giants such as Intel,AMD,Samsung,TSMC,Applied Materials,and currently has approximately 1,800 employees worldwide.
This technical cooperation can directly enable Huali to provide high-end process services.In the past few years,China has been encountering technology input restrictions.Intel’s Dalian 12-inch plant,which has been put into production,can currently only produce products with 65-nanometer technology.
However,Huali said that it will also rely on the national integrated circuit research and development center to jointly develop 90 to 45 nanometer standard processes to improve technological innovation capabilities.
After completing the power transformation last year,Huali started to move in 10,000 pieces of equipment.By the end of this year,the selection and procurement of 20,000 pieces of process equipment will be completed,and the process research and development,certification and trial production of 65nm to 45nm will be carried out;the production capacity of 35,000 pieces is expected to be reached in 2012.
The trial production of Huali is only one part of the global semiconductor manufacturing capacity expansion.In fact,in the past few months,TSMC,Gloabfoundries,and SMIC have all increased production capacity;Intel Israel project and AMD New York project are also under urgent construction.
Research firm Gartner reported last week that in 2011,the global semiconductor industry capital expenditure is expected to reach 55.8 billion U.S.dollars,a year-on-year increase of 10%.Among them,the top three are Samsung,Intel,and TSMC.However,two days ago,Intel's official information showed that its capital expenditure in 2011 will reach 9 billion US dollars,almost doubled last year.
The fast-growing local design industry is expected to create survival opportunities for Huali.According to data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology,China's semiconductor design industry is developing rapidly.In 2010,of the total revenue of the semiconductor industry of 144 billion yuan,the design industry's revenue reached 55 billion yuan,a year-on-year increase of 107%.