SMIC re‑enters advanced packaging
- Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., or SMIC, is expanding an advanced-packaging team in Shanghai and moving back into chip assembly work tied to artificial-intelligence processors, according to Digitimes reports published April 24. - SMIC’s move comes as the foundry targets wafer-level packaging and system-integration work instead of only front-end wafer fabrication, while 2025 annual revenue rose 16.2% to a record $9.33 billion. - The shift tracks China’s broader push to build more of the AI-chip stack at home as U.S. export-control fights keep tightening around tools and chips. (digitimes.com)
Advanced packaging is the step after a chip is made: it connects bare silicon to memory, power, and cooling so the processor can actually be used in a server. SMIC is moving back into that part of the business in Shanghai, according to Digitimes reports published April 24. (digitimes.com 1) (digitimes.com 2) Digitimes said Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. is scaling an advanced-packaging team and tying the effort to an artificial-intelligence chip strategy. The report described a return to packaging after years in which SMIC was known mainly for front-end wafer manufacturing. (digitimes.com 1) (digitimes.com 2) Packaging matters because AI chips are no longer just one slab of silicon. High-bandwidth memory, logic dies, and the substrate have to be stacked and linked with extremely short connections, which makes packaging a performance bottleneck as much as a manufacturing step. (digitimes.com 1) (digitimes.com 2) That is the opening SMIC appears to be chasing. If a foundry cannot freely buy the newest lithography tools, it can still try to improve the finished system by tightening how chips, memory, and interconnects are combined. (digitimes.com) (trendforce.com) SMIC’s own filings show why it has room to invest. The company said on March 26 that 2025 revenue rose 16.2% year over year to $9.327 billion, monthly capacity topped 1 million 8-inch-equivalent wafers, and utilization reached 93.5%. (smics.com) (trendforce.com) The same annual-results disclosure said SMIC remained focused on wafer manufacturing, while outside reports pointed to a broader 2026 plan aimed at sales growth above the industry average. TrendForce, citing SMIC’s action plan and Chinese media, said 2026 capital spending is expected to stay roughly flat after 2025 capex reached $8.1 billion. (smics.com) (trendforce.com) The backdrop is a Chinese supply chain trying to localize more of AI hardware. TrendForce said in February that China was pushing to raise 7-nanometer and 5-nanometer output, with SMIC, Hua Hong, and Huawei-linked chipmakers all part of that effort. (trendforce.com) At the same time, Washington is still debating tighter restrictions. Bloomberg reported on April 22 that the House Foreign Affairs Committee advanced bipartisan export-control bills aimed at limiting more artificial-intelligence technology flows to China. (bloomberg.com) (usnews.com) SMIC has not publicly laid out the Shanghai packaging expansion in its own press releases. But if the Digitimes report is borne out, the company is no longer treating packaging as a side process; it is treating it as part of the chip itself. (digitimes.com) (smics.com)
