China’s top foundry, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI)-related demand would continue to underpin orders for its production and that it had raised prices for its most sought-after capacity.SMIC co-chief executive officer Zhao Haijun (趙海軍) said on an earnings call that the firm raised prices following negotiations with customers in the first quarter and that it would charge more for wafers processed in the third quarter.“We believe we’ve reached top-tier industry standards in these areas,” Zhao said. “Since there’s still a big gap between industry-leading wafer prices and SMIC’s current prices, we need to negotiate with customers for fairer pricing.”
The logo of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp is pictured at the China International Semiconductor Expo in Shanghai on Oct. 14, 2020.
Silicon wafers serve as the base material onto which chip patterns are printed by SMIC through the fabrication process.SMIC, the only Chinese foundry able to mass-produce logic chips such as CPUs and GPUs on a 7-nanometer process, posted revenue above US$3 billion for the first time in the second quarter, driven by strong AI demand.
