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SMIC
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China’s top chip maker SMIC heaps stock options on employees amid country’s semiconductor expansion drive

  • The SMIC board has approved a restricted share incentive scheme that will cover as many as 4,000 employees
  • The company’s latest incentive programme comes as China doubles down on efforts to build up its semiconductor industry

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Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp, China’s largest chip foundry, has a tradition of providing special treatment to engineers recruited from outside the mainland. Photo: Handout
Josh Ye
Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC), mainland China’s most advanced and largest chip foundry, will offer stock options to nearly a quarter of its employees, bolstering the country’s efforts to keep and attract top talent in this industry.
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The SMIC board has approved a restricted share incentive scheme that will cover as many as 4,000 awardees – around 23 per cent of the company’s total headcount – to improve its ability to attract and retain personnel, according to its regulatory filing in Hong Kong on Friday.

The offering is set at 20 yuan (US$3.11) per share, or a discount of about 36.46 per cent to the shares’ average trading price of 54.86 yuan per share, the company said.

Two of SMIC’s top executives, industry veterans who previously worked at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), will each receive 400,000 restricted shares, making them among the scheme’s biggest beneficiaries.
Pedestrians walk past the Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp headquarters in Shanghai on March 23, 2021. Photo: Bloomberg
Pedestrians walk past the Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp headquarters in Shanghai on March 23, 2021. Photo: Bloomberg
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SMIC chairman Zhou Zixue and co-chief executive Zhao Haijun will also be granted 400,000 shares each.

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