Shanghai will build an additional two or three 12-inch wafer plants and one or two TV panel plants within the next five years to boost the city's information technology manufacturing output, an IT industry regulator official said Monday.
According to the city's 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) for IT development, Shanghai will focus on semiconductors, computers, flat display panels, high-tech electronics for automobiles and next-generation telecommunications equipment, said Zhou Minhao, vice director of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Information Technology.
"We will gear the restructuring of the city's economy to the sectors with high core technology and profits," Zhou said.
He declined to reveal which companies would be lured to invest in the new facilities or whether preferential policies would be offered.
Experts said each 12-inch wafer plant, which feature the world's most advanced technology for integrated circuits, would cost at least US$2 billion.
Shanghai-based Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp has built the only two 12-inch wafer plants in the city.
Shanghai also plans to build one or two PDP (plasma display panel) plants, which produce panels for flat-screen TVs with 3D functions.
In the chip design sector, Shanghai's revenue reached 11.3 billion yuan with 68.9 percent growth year on year in 2010. It was the first time revenue from the sector surpassed 10 billion yuan.
