Commentary: Losing patience with SMIC

Mark LaPedus, EE Times
(07/30/2008 11:50 AM EDT)
 
Based on the tone of this week's conference call with industry analysts, the analyst community is simply running out of patience with China's Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC).

SMIC (Shanghai) continues to change its story, blaming its problems on everybody and everything but itself.

On Monday (July 28), SMIC reported its fifth consecutive quarterly loss. And despite a massive fab expansion plan, the silicon foundry provider has failed to make a profit since its inception.

The market is still waiting for a mysterious investor, who is supposed to provide much-needed funding for SMIC. Chinese telecommunications provider Datang may buy a 20 percent stake in SMIC, according to Reuters.

As for its financial results, SMIC blamed its most recent losses on the struggling DRAM market. For some time, the company has been attempting to bail out of its loss-ridden DRAM foundry business and expand into the logic business.