SMIC and ARC International to Jointly Bring Configurable Processors to China

Agreement Designed to Bring Benefits of ARC's Patented Configurable Technology and SMIC's Foundry Services to the Semiconductor Industry's Fastest Growing Region

ELSTREE, England, and SHANGHAI, China, January 3, 2006 - Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation ("SMIC", NYSE: SMI and HKSE: 0981.HK), one of the leading semiconductor foundries in the world, and ARC International plc (LSE: ARK), today announced a joint agreement to equip system-on-chip (SoC) developers in mainland China with configurable technology. SMIC, the first announced China-based foundry to enter into a strategic partnership with ARC, will offer one-stop design and manufacturing services for ARC's industry-leading and patented configurable processor technology. This joint agreement is part of ARC's strategy to expand business throughout Asia and highlights SMIC's commitment to continue to provide a total package solution for its customers.

A number of ARC licensees selling into China are already leveraging SMIC to produce a range of ARC-Based™ designs for high-volume embedded applications. ARC licensees can use ARC's configurable CPU/DSP cores and multimedia subsystems with SMIC's manufacturing processes, and expect to develop lower cost products that are uniquely tuned to the end user application.

"China's semiconductor industry represented close to $7.5 billion in 2004 and is expected to grow about twice the rate of the overall growth of the worldwide semiconductor industry," said Tony Massimini, chief of technology for Semico Research. "Consumer applications will be a key driving force in maintaining the growth in China. These are applications with rapidly evolving features and standards. Configurable cores lend themselves well to such a volatile market as designers are able to develop low cost, differentiated devices."

"We are very pleased to partner with ARC, an industry leader in configurable CPU technology," said Paul OuYang, vice president of Design Services at SMIC. "As consumer-based products continue to dominate the semiconductor industry, SoC designers seek new ways to reduce their development and manufacturing costs, and decrease their time-to-market for their products. Judging by the increasing interest we are seeing from our customers, we believe that ARC's configurable processor technology provides one such solution."

"ARC has more than 100 licensees who together ship an annual volume of close to 100 million units of ARC-Based products," said Derek Meyer, senior vice president of sales and marketing at ARC International. "This new alliance with SMIC is part of ARC's global expansion strategy and further underscores our commitment to working with world-leading semiconductor companies to bring configurable technology to customers throughout Asia. As a leading foundry in China, we are pleased to have SMIC's support to help introduce the benefits of configurability to China."

About SMIC
Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, ("SMIC", NYSE: SMI, HKSE: 0981.HK) is one of the leading semiconductor foundries in the world, providing integrated circuit (IC) manufacturing at 0.35um to 90nm and finer line technologies to customers worldwide. Established in 2000, SMIC has four 8-inch wafer fabrication facilities in volume production in Shanghai and Tianjin. In the first quarter of 2005, SMIC commenced commercial production at its 12-inch wafer fabrication facility in Beijing. SMIC also maintains customer service and marketing offices in the U.S., Europe, and Japan, and a representative office in Hong Kong. As part of its dedication towards providing high-quality services, SMIC strives to comply with or exceed international standards and has achieved ISO9001, ISO/TS16949, OHSAS18001, TL9000, BS7799 and ISO14001 certifications. For additional information, please visit www.smics.com.

About ARC International plc
ARC International is the world leader in low-power, high-performance 32-bit configurable CPU/DSP processor cores, subsystems, real-time operating systems and development tools for embedded system design. ARC's patented configurable CPU technology assists customers in the development of next generation digital media, consumer and communications devices, resulting in lower cost, higher performance SoC products.

ARC International maintains a worldwide presence with corporate offices in San Jose, California, USA and Elstree, UK. The company has research and development offices located in England and the United States. For more information please visit the ARC website at: www.ARC.com. ARC International is listed on the London Stock Exchange as ARC International plc (LSE: ARK).