October 10, 2001 — SEOUL — Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., a joint venture between Taiwan and China, is producing a prototype eight-inch silicon wafer with a minimum circuit width of 0.25 microns.

SMIC said it plans to build nine production lines by 2010 to boost its production capacity to 200,000 wafers a year. The current production line capacity is 15,000 wafers per month. In addition, SMIC plans to mass-produce chips, including DRAM chips beginning in January.

Until recently, Chinese chipmakers had focused much of their efforts on six-inch wafers.

According to published reports, some Korean firms are uneasy of the move by Chinese chipmakers to ramp up production of eight-inch chips, fearing that it could detract from the Korean industry.

“The most worrisome development is the combination of China’s cheap and abundant labor, the capital of Chinese merchants in Taiwan and expertise of Chinese-Americans in the United States,” a Samsung official told the Asia Pulse news agency.