Shanghai [2010-04-27]
The Board of Directors is pleased to announce the audited results of the Company for the year ended December 31, 2009.
Highlights include:
- Sales decreased by 20.9% from US$1,353.7 million for 2008 to US$1,070.4 million for 2009, primarily due to a decrease in overall wafer shipments.
- For the full year 2009, the overall wafer shipments were 1,376,663 units of 8-inch equivalent wafers, down 14.6% year-on-year.
- The average selling price1 of the wafers the Company shipped decreased by 7.5% from US$840 per wafer to US$778.
- Excluding DRAM revenue, the percentage of wafer revenues that used 0.13 micron and below process technology increased from 38.2% to 47.5% between these two periods.
Business Review
In 2009, SMIC continued to expand its product portfolio and customer base despite the unprecedented challenging business environment due to a downturn in the global economy, which began in the fourth quarter of 2008. Still, the Company continued to benefit from its strategic position in China — the largest and fastest growing integrated circuits market, and saw a steady growth in the region, in particular, through the implementation of the stimulus package that stirred strong domestic demand. As our business began to improve and recover in 2009, with our utilization rate rebounding to 91.5% in the fourth quarter, we also saw a significant growth in the revenue generated from the more advanced technology nodes of 0.13-micron and below.
Financial Overview
During 2009, we generated US$283.6 million in cash from operations. Capital expenditures in 2009 totaled US$189.9 million, which was mainly allocated to 45-nanometer research and development, capacity expansion of 200 millimeter wafer fabs in Shanghai and Tianjin, DRAM to logic capacity conversion in our Beijing fab, and Shenzhen land-use rights and equipment acquired for the Shenzhen project. Looking ahead, we believe that the worst is behind us, but we will continue to exercise tight controls over capital expenditures, improve efficiency, foster innovation, and enhance our financial position as we strive for sustained profitability.
Customers and Markets
SMIC serves a global customer base, comprised of leading independent design manufacturers (IDMs), fabless semiconductor companies, and system companies. Leveraging on our strategic position in China, we have seen our Greater China business grow strongly during the year, contributing 36% to the overall revenue for 2009, an increase from 31% in 2008.
Geographically, North American customers, which contributed 59% of the overall revenue, remained as the largest customer base for SMIC in 2009, displaying a strong growth in the advanced nodes. In other regions, Mainland China customers contributed 20% of the total revenue in 2009, followed by Taiwan customers at 15%. Communication applications, which contributed 50% of our overall revenue, continued to be our strongest sector. Similarly, contribution from consumer applications also grew from 32% of revenue in 2008 to 38% in 2009. Our North American customers, which include leading IDM and fabless semiconductor companies, showed strong demand in communications products, mainly in mobile, networking and WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) applications. Our Chinese customers, on the other hand, showed strong demand for both consumer and communications products, including digital television (DTV), set-top box (STB), mobile, portable media player (PMP), and personal digital assistant (PDA) applications.
In terms of revenue breakdown by technology node, revenue contribution from business at the 0.13-micron node and below has grown to 48% in 2009 as compared to 39% in 2008, while revenue from 65-nanometer technology revenue contributed 1% of wafer revenue in 2009. Advanced logic revenue from the 0.13-micron node and below grew by more than 135% in the first quarter of 2009 and continued throughout the year. In addition, our 45-nanometer low-power technology development is on schedule, while we have extended our technology offering down to 40-nanometer, plus an extension to include 55-nanometer.
In 2009, we engaged 74 new customers, and the majority of which were Chinese fabless companies, where we experienced the fastest growth. Notably, our China business has been growing steadily not only from a revenue perspective, but also based on the number of new designs using more advanced technology nodes — some pursuing 65-nanometer. This trend also signifies that China is quickly catching up to the rest of the world in terms of its innovation and design capabilities. Promising new players with innovative designs and applications continue to emerge among the Chinese fabless companies, and we are producing a broad range of applications for them, including CMOS image sensor (CIS), Mobile CMMB, HDTV, RFID, wireless and other products. To this end, SMIC remains committed to collaborating with our existing and new customers in China, and further solidifying our position as the leading foundry in the market. At the same time, we will also continue to expand our presence in the global arena.
Research and Development
In 2009, our research and development expenses were $160.8 million, which represented 15.0% of our sales.
The research and development efforts were focused primarily on our logic platform and system-on-chip (SOC) applications. SMIC in 2009 has achieved many significant milestones. Early on in the year, Synopsis and SMIC released an enhanced 90-nanometer hierarchical, multi-voltage RTL-to-GDSII reference design flow that will provide advanced synthesis with built-in capability of design-for-test (DFT) and design-for-manufacturing (DFM). In April 2009, working with a leading Chinese domestic fabless company, we developed a 90-nanometer digital photo frame chip, which is the most integrated multimedia SOC in the market. For advanced CMOS logic, SMIC demonstrated a silicon success in our 45-nanometer process ahead of schedule, and also added new IP libraries in 65-nanometer and 90-nanometer technology nodes. In addition, the Company successfully developed the 0.11 micron CMOS image sensor (CIS) process technology, one of the advanced process technologies for CIS currently available in the industry. In Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) technology, the 0.13-micron ETox products went into production in early 2009 and 90-nanometer ETox products are currently in risk production. Our research and development in the Micro- Electromechanical System (MEMS) areas also advanced to risk production for the first customer in 2009. Other areas of phase- change memory, HV, mix-signal-signal, and radio frequency (RF) technologies were also successfully developed for smaller size, less power, and lower cost to meet customer demands.
We employ approximately 700 research and development engineers, with experience in the semiconductor industry and with advanced degrees from leading universities around the world and in China.
Litigation
The Company settled all pending litigation with TSMC on November 9, 2009, with a Settlement Agreement (the "2009 Settlement Agreement"). The 2009 Settlement Agreement resolved all pending lawsuits between the parties and the parties have since dismissed all pending litigation between them, including the counterclaims the Company filed against TSMC in the California case, which had not yet been decided. The terms of the 2009 Settlement Agreement include the following:
1) Entry of judgement and mutual release of all claims that were or could have been brought in the pending lawsuits;
2) Termination of SMIC’s obligation to make remaining payments under prior settlement agreement between the parties (approximately US$40 million);
3) Payment to TSMC of an aggregate of US$200 million (with US$15 million paid upon execution, funded from SMIC’s existing cash balances, and the remainder to be paid in installments over a period of four years — US$15 million payable by December 31, 2009, US$80 million payable by December 31, 2010, US$30 million payable by December 31, 2011, US$30 million payable by December 31, 2012 and US$30 million payable by December 31, 2013);
4) Commitment to grant to TSMC of 1,789,493,218 shares of SMIC (representing approximately 8% of SMIC’s issued share capital as of October 31, 2009) and a warrant exercisable within three years of issuance to subscribe for 695,914,030 shares of SMIC, subject to adjustment, at a purchase price of HK$1.30 per share. Both the shares and the warrant would allow TSMC to obtain total ownership of approximately 10% of SMIC’s issued share capital after giving effect to the share issuances and are subject to receipt of required government and regulatory approvals; and
5) Certain remedies in the event of breach of this settlement.
Outlook for 2010
Our overall outlook for 2010 is positive as we see an improved economy supporting an overall strengthening of the Company’s foundation. With legal settlement behind us, we start afresh. A new management team is ready to take on the approaching challenges.
Gross margin recovered to 10.5% by the last quarter of 2009 and is aimed to continue in the double-digits throughout 2010. In addition, our product mix continues to improve, as customers migrate to technology nodes with higher ASP, and our 65-nanometer continues to ramp up. Capital expenditure spending is being controlled and is focused on products with higher ASP.
The overall semiconductor market is better, and furthermore the China market looks even stronger. We are optimistic about SMIC’s performance in 2010 and look forward to seizing opportunities to improve our business in this year of change.
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT FOR PURPOSES OF THE "SAFE HARBOR" PROVISIONS OF THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995
This annual report may contain, 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" 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, 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 and financial stability in end markets.
Except as 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.
For the complete results announcement, please refer to our website in the page of “Investor Relations” -> “Regulatory Filings”
Contact:
Investor Relations
IR@smics.com
86-21-3861-0000 ext. 12804
The Board of Directors is pleased to announce the audited results of the Company for the year ended December 31, 2009.
Highlights include:
- Sales decreased by 20.9% from US$1,353.7 million for 2008 to US$1,070.4 million for 2009, primarily due to a decrease in overall wafer shipments.
- For the full year 2009, the overall wafer shipments were 1,376,663 units of 8-inch equivalent wafers, down 14.6% year-on-year.
- The average selling price1 of the wafers the Company shipped decreased by 7.5% from US$840 per wafer to US$778.
- Excluding DRAM revenue, the percentage of wafer revenues that used 0.13 micron and below process technology increased from 38.2% to 47.5% between these two periods.
Business Review
In 2009, SMIC continued to expand its product portfolio and customer base despite the unprecedented challenging business environment due to a downturn in the global economy, which began in the fourth quarter of 2008. Still, the Company continued to benefit from its strategic position in China — the largest and fastest growing integrated circuits market, and saw a steady growth in the region, in particular, through the implementation of the stimulus package that stirred strong domestic demand. As our business began to improve and recover in 2009, with our utilization rate rebounding to 91.5% in the fourth quarter, we also saw a significant growth in the revenue generated from the more advanced technology nodes of 0.13-micron and below.
Financial Overview
During 2009, we generated US$283.6 million in cash from operations. Capital expenditures in 2009 totaled US$189.9 million, which was mainly allocated to 45-nanometer research and development, capacity expansion of 200 millimeter wafer fabs in Shanghai and Tianjin, DRAM to logic capacity conversion in our Beijing fab, and Shenzhen land-use rights and equipment acquired for the Shenzhen project. Looking ahead, we believe that the worst is behind us, but we will continue to exercise tight controls over capital expenditures, improve efficiency, foster innovation, and enhance our financial position as we strive for sustained profitability.
Customers and Markets
SMIC serves a global customer base, comprised of leading independent design manufacturers (IDMs), fabless semiconductor companies, and system companies. Leveraging on our strategic position in China, we have seen our Greater China business grow strongly during the year, contributing 36% to the overall revenue for 2009, an increase from 31% in 2008.
Geographically, North American customers, which contributed 59% of the overall revenue, remained as the largest customer base for SMIC in 2009, displaying a strong growth in the advanced nodes. In other regions, Mainland China customers contributed 20% of the total revenue in 2009, followed by Taiwan customers at 15%. Communication applications, which contributed 50% of our overall revenue, continued to be our strongest sector. Similarly, contribution from consumer applications also grew from 32% of revenue in 2008 to 38% in 2009. Our North American customers, which include leading IDM and fabless semiconductor companies, showed strong demand in communications products, mainly in mobile, networking and WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) applications. Our Chinese customers, on the other hand, showed strong demand for both consumer and communications products, including digital television (DTV), set-top box (STB), mobile, portable media player (PMP), and personal digital assistant (PDA) applications.
In terms of revenue breakdown by technology node, revenue contribution from business at the 0.13-micron node and below has grown to 48% in 2009 as compared to 39% in 2008, while revenue from 65-nanometer technology revenue contributed 1% of wafer revenue in 2009. Advanced logic revenue from the 0.13-micron node and below grew by more than 135% in the first quarter of 2009 and continued throughout the year. In addition, our 45-nanometer low-power technology development is on schedule, while we have extended our technology offering down to 40-nanometer, plus an extension to include 55-nanometer.
In 2009, we engaged 74 new customers, and the majority of which were Chinese fabless companies, where we experienced the fastest growth. Notably, our China business has been growing steadily not only from a revenue perspective, but also based on the number of new designs using more advanced technology nodes — some pursuing 65-nanometer. This trend also signifies that China is quickly catching up to the rest of the world in terms of its innovation and design capabilities. Promising new players with innovative designs and applications continue to emerge among the Chinese fabless companies, and we are producing a broad range of applications for them, including CMOS image sensor (CIS), Mobile CMMB, HDTV, RFID, wireless and other products. To this end, SMIC remains committed to collaborating with our existing and new customers in China, and further solidifying our position as the leading foundry in the market. At the same time, we will also continue to expand our presence in the global arena.
Research and Development
In 2009, our research and development expenses were $160.8 million, which represented 15.0% of our sales.
The research and development efforts were focused primarily on our logic platform and system-on-chip (SOC) applications. SMIC in 2009 has achieved many significant milestones. Early on in the year, Synopsis and SMIC released an enhanced 90-nanometer hierarchical, multi-voltage RTL-to-GDSII reference design flow that will provide advanced synthesis with built-in capability of design-for-test (DFT) and design-for-manufacturing (DFM). In April 2009, working with a leading Chinese domestic fabless company, we developed a 90-nanometer digital photo frame chip, which is the most integrated multimedia SOC in the market. For advanced CMOS logic, SMIC demonstrated a silicon success in our 45-nanometer process ahead of schedule, and also added new IP libraries in 65-nanometer and 90-nanometer technology nodes. In addition, the Company successfully developed the 0.11 micron CMOS image sensor (CIS) process technology, one of the advanced process technologies for CIS currently available in the industry. In Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) technology, the 0.13-micron ETox products went into production in early 2009 and 90-nanometer ETox products are currently in risk production. Our research and development in the Micro- Electromechanical System (MEMS) areas also advanced to risk production for the first customer in 2009. Other areas of phase- change memory, HV, mix-signal-signal, and radio frequency (RF) technologies were also successfully developed for smaller size, less power, and lower cost to meet customer demands.
We employ approximately 700 research and development engineers, with experience in the semiconductor industry and with advanced degrees from leading universities around the world and in China.
Litigation
The Company settled all pending litigation with TSMC on November 9, 2009, with a Settlement Agreement (the "2009 Settlement Agreement"). The 2009 Settlement Agreement resolved all pending lawsuits between the parties and the parties have since dismissed all pending litigation between them, including the counterclaims the Company filed against TSMC in the California case, which had not yet been decided. The terms of the 2009 Settlement Agreement include the following:
1) Entry of judgement and mutual release of all claims that were or could have been brought in the pending lawsuits;
2) Termination of SMIC’s obligation to make remaining payments under prior settlement agreement between the parties (approximately US$40 million);
3) Payment to TSMC of an aggregate of US$200 million (with US$15 million paid upon execution, funded from SMIC’s existing cash balances, and the remainder to be paid in installments over a period of four years — US$15 million payable by December 31, 2009, US$80 million payable by December 31, 2010, US$30 million payable by December 31, 2011, US$30 million payable by December 31, 2012 and US$30 million payable by December 31, 2013);
4) Commitment to grant to TSMC of 1,789,493,218 shares of SMIC (representing approximately 8% of SMIC’s issued share capital as of October 31, 2009) and a warrant exercisable within three years of issuance to subscribe for 695,914,030 shares of SMIC, subject to adjustment, at a purchase price of HK$1.30 per share. Both the shares and the warrant would allow TSMC to obtain total ownership of approximately 10% of SMIC’s issued share capital after giving effect to the share issuances and are subject to receipt of required government and regulatory approvals; and
5) Certain remedies in the event of breach of this settlement.
Outlook for 2010
Our overall outlook for 2010 is positive as we see an improved economy supporting an overall strengthening of the Company’s foundation. With legal settlement behind us, we start afresh. A new management team is ready to take on the approaching challenges.
Gross margin recovered to 10.5% by the last quarter of 2009 and is aimed to continue in the double-digits throughout 2010. In addition, our product mix continues to improve, as customers migrate to technology nodes with higher ASP, and our 65-nanometer continues to ramp up. Capital expenditure spending is being controlled and is focused on products with higher ASP.
The overall semiconductor market is better, and furthermore the China market looks even stronger. We are optimistic about SMIC’s performance in 2010 and look forward to seizing opportunities to improve our business in this year of change.
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT FOR PURPOSES OF THE "SAFE HARBOR" PROVISIONS OF THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995
This annual report may contain, 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" 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, 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 and financial stability in end markets.
Except as 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.
For the complete results announcement, please refer to our website in the page of “Investor Relations” -> “Regulatory Filings”
Contact:
Investor Relations
IR@smics.com
86-21-3861-0000 ext. 12804
