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What CSMC planned in 2002
EE Times reported on November 15, 2002, that CSMC intended to raise capacity at an existing 6-inch, 0.5-micron fab from 20,000 wafers a month to 35,000 by the following year. It also planned a second 6-inch fab for 0.35-micron chips. Raymond Tong, then CSMC’s director of business development, said construction would start by the end of 2002 or early 2003, with production beginning nine to twelve months after groundbreaking. Those were company plans and projected dates, not verified completion milestones. EE Times, November 15, 2002.
Why focus on 6-inch wafers?
CSMC’s bet was that local design firms needed a foundry partner for mature-process chips, including consumer products using mixed-signal technology. Tong said many Chinese design houses were developing chips at 0.35 micron and above. In the 2002 report, he described the strategy this way: “Our core strategy is to focus on the local design houses.”
That niche was distinct from the larger-wafer investments then underway elsewhere in the industry. CSMC’s pitch was not that 6-inch wafers were inherently superior, but that a focused foundry could match its facilities and services to customers whose designs did not require more advanced manufacturing.
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Demand and capacity in the contemporary account
Tong told EE Times, “Right now, our fab is 100% utilized.” The story also said CSMC was operating at full capacity and sometimes turning customers away. These are claims from 2002, not statements about present operations. The article cited 243 Chinese design houses in its contemporary reporting; that figure should likewise be read as a period-specific count, not a current industry total.
Company background and services
The 2002 report traced CSMC to China Huajing Electronics Group, a state-run integrated-circuit enterprise formed in the 1980s. CSMC and Huajing established a joint foundry venture in 1998 and shifted the business from standard chip products toward foundry work. The report also noted CSMC’s packaging and assembly venture TPIC and its association with Shanghai design-services company IPCore Technologies.
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A 2006 interim report described foundries in Wuxi and Beijing, with 6-inch processes ranging from 3.0 to 0.35 microns. The listed technologies included CMOS logic, mixed-signal, high-voltage, non-volatile memory, EEPROM and DMOS. Services extended from design support to testing and packaging, and the customer base included Chinese fabless design houses and international integrated device manufacturers. CSMC Technologies Corporation, 2006 interim report.
How later capacity figures compare
Later company and group disclosures indicate that the 6-inch strategy continued to feature in the business, although they do not establish whether the specific 2002 construction schedule was met.
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| Period and source | Reported 6-inch capacity or lines | Additional context |
|---|---|---|
| 2007, China Resources Logic annual report | More than 100,000 wafers per month; three 6-inch lines | Reported 0.35-micron capability and a plan to shift open-foundry operations toward analog foundry work. Annual report. |
| China Resources Microelectronics company page; publication date unclear | Over 110,000 6-inch wafers per month and 40,000 8-inch wafers per month | The page identifies CSMC Technologies as a subsidiary providing mature-process foundry services. Its date is unclear, so these are company-published figures, not verified 2026 capacity. China Resources Microelectronics, industry layout. |
| Current TSMC corporate page | One 6-inch fab; capacity not stated | Shows that 6-inch manufacturing remains part of at least one foundry portfolio, but does not provide a like-for-like capacity comparison with CSMC. TSMC company profile. |
What the “foundry king” framing means
“King” is a descriptive headline, not a formal industry ranking. The evidence supports a narrower reading: CSMC pursued a position in 6-inch mature-process manufacturing by aligning wafer capacity, process options and related services with customers making chips for which those capabilities were suitable. The later reported capacity figures show that the group continued to describe substantial 6-inch operations, but the available dated disclosures do not provide a fully current, independently verified capacity or process-platform breakdown.
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