Huawei’s HiSilicon division has begun shifting some production away from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) to Shanghai-based Semiconductor Manufacturing International (SMIC), according to a report from DigiTimes. The shift reportedly concerns new orders based on SMIC’s 14nm FinFET process, which recently began production.
By looking to domestic foundries, Huawei is believed to be bracing for possible U.S. government action to restrict Huawei’s access to advanced fabrication at TSMC that leverages U.S.-origin technology.
SMIC, which is China’s number one chip maker, has previously stated an intention to introduce 7nm technology as soon as possible. SMIC has a 300mm wafer fabrication facility (fab) , a 200mm fab and a majority-owned joint-venture 300mm fab for advanced nodes in Shanghai; a 300mm fab and a majority-owned 300mm fab for advanced nodes in Beijing; 200mm fabs in Tianjin and Shenzhen; and a majority-owned joint-venture 300mm bumping facility in Jiangyin. In 2019, SMIC’s revenue from China-region customers grew to 59.5% of total revenue in 2019, compared to 57.0% of total revenue excluding technology licensing in 2018. Overall revenue was US$3,115.7 million in 2019.
