Quantum-accelerated products will be ready for production in
2018 to address high-volume programmable acceleration
markets
SHANGHAI and SANTA CLARA, Calif., Dec. 12, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Semiconductor
Manufacturing International Corporation ("SMIC") (NYSE: SMI; SEHK:
981), one of the leading semiconductor foundries in the world and
the largest and most advanced foundry in mainland China, and Efinix™ , an innovator in
programmable products platforms and technologies, today jointly
announced that Efinix has received silicon product samples for its
first Quantum™ accelerated programmable product platform built on
SMIC's 40nm process. A milestone was achieved with record breaking
efficiency -- going from product development using SMIC's
Physical Design Kit (PDK) to system validation of the samples in
less than six months.
"This is the first time Efinix has worked with SMIC, and I am
impressed by the strong support they provided. SMIC's business and
technical engagement with us created a strong foundation for our
development success," said Sammy
Cheung, co-founder, CEO, and president of Efinix. "Now
we can focus on our 2018 production milestones and swiftly deploy
our first Quantum-accelerated product line to serve high-volume
markets worldwide."
Efinix's Quantum programmable technology delivers a 4X
Power-Performance-Area advantage over traditional programmable
technologies. This disruptive advantage enables Efinix's silicon
products to compete in high-growth markets such as custom logic,
deep learning, and compute acceleration.
"SMIC's 40nm Low Leakage platform has already been in mass
production for over 5-years. It has more than 220 products. We are
excited to be working with Efinix to develop the Quantum
programmable technology on our advanced and reliable platform,"
said Sunny Hui, senior vice
president of Worldwide Marketing at SMIC. "FPGA programmable
products are technically challenging to develop, but Efinix's
Quantum technology made it straightforward. We look forward
to working with Efinix to deliver its first product line to
production and to support joint development in the near
future."
"This is the first time in our industry that I have seen this
level of efficiency in programmable product development," said
Bill Hata, former senior vice
president of Worldwide Operations and Engineering at Altera
Corporation (now part of Intel). Hata has more than 30 years of
semiconductor industry experience and serves on Efinix's Advisory
Board. "This efficiency is made possible by the silicon process
agnostic nature of the Quantum architecture. Unlike leading
FPGAs, this technology does not require special silicon process
recipes to boost performance and logic element (LE) density."
Efinix is currently working with a few enabling customers.
Details of the first phase of Quantum- accelerated product line
will be released in the first quarter of 2018.
About SMIC
Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation ("SMIC";
NYSE: SMI; SEHK: 981) is one of the leading semiconductor foundries
in the world and the largest and most advanced foundry in mainland
China. SMIC provides integrated
circuit (IC) foundry and technology services on process nodes from
0.35 micron to 28 nanometer. Headquartered in Shanghai, China, SMIC has an international
manufacturing and service base. In China, SMIC has a 300mm wafer fabrication
facility (fab) and a 200mm mega-fab in Shanghai; a 300mm mega-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; additionally, in Italy SMIC has a majority-owned 200mm fab.
SMIC also has marketing and customer service offices in the U.S.,
Europe, Japan, and Taiwan, and a representative office in
Hong Kong.
For more information, please visit www.smics.com.
Safe Harbor Statements
(Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995)
This press release contains, in addition to historical
information, "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the
"safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on
SMIC's current assumptions, expectations and projections about
future events. SMIC uses words like "believe," "anticipate,"
"intend," "estimate," "expect," "project," "target" and similar
expressions to identify forward looking statements, although not
all forward-looking statements contain these words. These
forward-looking statements are necessarily estimates reflecting the
best judgment of SMIC's senior management and involve significant
risks, both known and unknown, uncertainties and other factors that
may cause SMIC's actual performance, financial condition or results
of operations to be materially different from those suggested by
the forward-looking statements including, among others, risks
associated with cyclicality and market conditions in the
semiconductor industry, intense competition in the semiconductor
industry, SMIC's reliance on a small number of customers, timely
wafer acceptance by SMIC's customers, timely introduction of new
technologies, SMIC's ability to ramp new products into volume,
supply and demand for semiconductor foundry services, industry
overcapacity, shortages in equipment, components and raw materials,
availability of manufacturing capacity, financial stability in end
markets, orders or judgments from pending litigation, intensive
intellectual property litigation in semiconductor industry, general
economic conditions and fluctuations in currency exchange
rates.
In addition to the information contained in this press release,
you should also consider the information contained in our other
filings with the SEC, including our annual report on Form 20-F
filed with the SEC on April 27, 2017,
especially in the "Risk Factors" section and such other documents
that we may file with the SEC or The Hong Kong Stock Exchange
Limited ("SEHK") from time to time, including current reports on
Form 6-K. Other unknown or unpredictable factors also could have
material adverse effects on our future results, performance or
achievements. In light of these risks, uncertainties, assumptions
and factors, the forward-looking events discussed in this press
release may not occur. You are cautioned not to place undue
reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as
of the date stated or, if no date is stated, as of the date of this
press release. Except as may be required by law, SMIC undertakes no
obligation and does not intend to update any forward-looking
statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise.
About Efinix
Efinix is an innovator in programmable products platforms and
technologies. The company's Quantum programmable technology enables
advanced programmable silicon products in the ASIC, ASSP, and FPGA
segments. With Quantum's Power-Performance-Area advantage, Efinix
products address the needs of high-volume, low-power, and small
form-factor products for applications in custom logic, compute
acceleration, and deep learning. Efinix's joint development
activities, which focus on infrastructure, data centers, and
advanced silicon processes, further amplify the company's
leadership in the programmable industry.
For more information, visit http://www.efinixinc.com.
Media Contacts:
Terry Ding
SMICS
+86-21-38611-0000 x16812
Terry_Ding@smics.com
Steve Stratz
Relevanz Public Relations for Efinix
206.300.9134
steve@relevanzpr.com
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SOURCE Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation