China’s biggest chip maker SMIC pushes ahead with construction of new Tianjin plant despite Covid-19 lockdowns
- The project, with a total investment of US$7.5 billion, began construction last Saturday, according to report
- The new plant will have a capacity of 100,000 12-inch wafers per month and cover mature semiconductor manufacturing process nodes
Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC), China’s largest chip maker, has started construction of its new 12-inch wafer fab in Tianjin, even as the northern city remains under a partial lockdown to battle the latest wave of Covid-19 infections.
The project, with a total investment of US$7.5 billion, began construction last Saturday, according to a report by Tianjin Daily, the city’s official newspaper. Tianjin has been under partial lockdown to combat Covid since late August.
SMIC said on August 27 it had entered into a cooperation framework agreement with two local government authorities in the Xiqing district to build the new fab.
The latest coronavirus outbreak is believed to have started at a football game in the city, where two thirds of participating players were infected, according to local authorities. Up to 252 cases of the Omicron variant of the virus have been traced to a shopping centre in the Xiqing district, marking the largest transmission chain during the latest wave.
On Tuesday, Tianjin reported 55 new cases, the highest daily number reported in the city in September, while the city’s health official described the latest wave of Covid-19 as “long-tailed”. Fourteen of sixteen districts in the city have reported positive cases to date.