March 8, 2004 – China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) says it has enough funding to meet its capital requirements through 2005, but is leaving the door open to raise more funds, according to Dow Jones.

SMIC CFO Jenny Wang said at a press conference that the chipmaker’s needs for 2004 and 2005 “are already covered,” but wouldn’t say that the company doesn’t want to raise more funds. SMIC has a capex budget of $1.95 billion this year and $1.4 billion in 2005, which it claims will be met by its upcoming IPO, existing loan facilities, and cash from operations.

SMIC Richard Chang also dismissed the idea that the Chinese chip market is anywhere close to overheating; he estimated domestic demand outweighs supply by a factor of five, and will continue lead for “five or maybe as long as eight years.”

He added that as much as 55% of SMIC’s chip output in 2004 will go to domestic operations, as international IDMs and design houses request shipments to their end-customers in China.