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